A Hidden Identity
by Half-Demon-Cali
Summary: AU Manny was orphaned at a young age. Now, sixteen years old and living in an abandoned house, things aren't looking up. But when he discovers a mysterious belt in his home, will his new powers and new El Tigre identity help him out in life?
1. Meet Manny Rivera

I don't normally write about anything but anime, but I needed SOMETHING to get me out of my slump… And it just so happens that EL TIGRE IS AN AWESOME CARTOON.

And it just so happens that I have an awesome, anime-style twist for it.

**Chapter 1**

**Meet Manny Rivera**

Meet Manuel Pablo Gutierrez O'Brien Equihua Rivera. Manny Rivera for short. A sixteen-year-old Mexican boy living on his own, as he had been for eight years. No, his parents didn't die when he was young… His _family_ died when he was _born_. His only known relative is his mother, and he barely remembered her, never mind where she was.

Manny knew nothing about his family, disregarding the knowledge of his mother being a world-famous singer who really didn't care for anyone but herself and select few people. The only people he could remember even slightly were his mom, dad, and grandfather, and they were all starting to fade from his mind.

Orphaned at a few weeks old, Manny had lived in the Netzahualcoyotl Orphanage for at least half of his life. He wasn't born in Netzahualcoyotl, however. His home town was Miracle City, a cesspool city about five miles away. But when his single father and grandfather were killed, not that he knows _how_, he was literally left on the streets, since his mother had divorced his father (Again, he didn't remember or know why). A passing-by woman with a heart had picked him up and brought him to her hometown's orphanage. Manny started living there, totally clueless about most of his past.

At age seven, he started receiving letters from his mother; not directly, however. The letters were sent to the orphanage for safety, for each letter contained a substantial amount of money. Ms. Vida, the woman in charge of the orphanage, kept it for Manny, in case he was ever adopted. When a couple picked him out, that was when she would tell him about the letters.

However, Manny learned about the letters and cash earlier than that, more or less due to the caretaker's habit of speaking her thoughts out loud. He had been sneaking around Ms. Vida's office, always after a new letter had come. He kept careful track of the money, and by the time he was eight, he knew there was enough. He didn't like living at the orphanage, he never did. When he was sure there was enough, he had taken the money and his backpack, which was kindly given to him by Ms. Vida's daughter, and ran away from the orphanage.

In his opinion, it was more like he _escaped_.

He ended up back in his birthplace, Miracle City. The money his mother sent him had helped him rent a small, shabby apartment. City Hall, knowing that Manny happened to be Maria Rivera's son, told him that they would supply the tuition money for school if he could get the money for his other necessities. That deal stood firm. However, at age fourteen, the money Manny had received from his mother was gone. The city stopped giving him the money for school without hesitation, and Manny had to be evicted from the only place he'd ever called home. Manny had been getting home-schooled since eighth grade, courtesy of his best friend, Frida Suarez.

Frida was the only friend Manny had made while he was going to school. The two met when Manny began his first semester, and eventually, they became inseparable. When Manny got into fights, Frida had his back if he got hurt. If she was in trouble, he was the one to help. Even with Manny leaving school, and Mr. Suarez's deep disapproval of the boy, they continued to be best friends. Frida was basically his teacher. After she finished school every day, she would go straight to him and teach him what she had learned. Her father thought she was with her old friend, now rival, Zoe Aves. Little did he know that they hadn't talked since third grade. That's why it was such a good cover-up.

But enough history, let's get on with the story.

Manny trudged back to his current 'home', a run-down, abandoned house in the center, mostly abandoned region of the city. He winced with every step, his hand applying pressure to his left arm every so often. He hated the fact that he was always called out to fights with his former 'classmates' that he never got along with, but he loved the fact that he always won, despite the injuries he may or may not receive while fighting. Plus, he was too proud to give up or not go period. Another wince came.

He looked at his arm. Although his jacket was black, he could clearly see the blood seeping through it. _Aw, come on. I went months without staining this thing!_ At least he was almost home.

"Manny!" Manny stopped walking for a moment, and turned around. Frida was running up to him. Why was she here? When Frida had caught up, she grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around so he was facing her. "For God's sake, Manny! I just saw Paolo and his idiot followers when I came back from my band rehearsal! Why do you need to fight those guys every time they call you out!?" Manny snorted and looked away.

"They're all weak. It's not like I ever get hurt in fights." Frida raised an eyebrow, and grabbed his upper arm in her hand. Manny yelped and swatted her hand away. "Dammit, Frida! That still hurts!" Frida looked at her hand, which had been colored scarlet. She poked him in the chest.

"You _did_ get hurt, stupid," she retorted. A forehead slap followed. "Manny, you've gotta be careful." Manny folded his arms and looked at the ground.

"I know, I know…Hey!" Manny exclaimed as Frida started to remove his jacket. "What're you doing!?" Frida made him sit down on a nearby stoop. She joined him in sitting, letting her backpack slide down her arm.

"You're hurt, stupid. I'm trying to help. Why do you think I was wearing my backpack?" She reached into her schoolbag and pulled out a makeshift medical kit, consisting of a roll of gauze, tape, a bottle of water and a small towel. "Best thing I could do on short notice." Many grumbled something inaudible under his breath.

"Fine…" Frida grinned in victory and slipped Manny's jacket off unhurriedly, trying not to cause him any more pain. He reluctantly complied, moving his arms as needed. Frida dabbed the towel with water and rubbed it along his wound slowly, cleaning the blood away.

"You should stop getting into fights so often, you're really going to get hurt one of these days," she muttered, putting the towel down and ripping a piece of gauze with her teeth. "Next time it won't be your arm that gets cut."

"Oh yeah? What'll it be then?"

"Hey, it's Paolo; if he was angry enough, he'd probably try to castrate you." Manny shuddered at this. He also wondered how his rocker friend had thought of that in the first place. _Meh, I'll ask her about it later._

"No way I'm letting him anywhere _near_ there." Frida finished wrapping the gauze around his arm. She, using her teeth once again, ripped off a piece of tape. "Besides, it's not like I'll ever lose."

"You lost _twice_ last week."

"…Okay, I won't lose from now _on_." Frida tightened his bandage on purpose. Manny yelped.

"Ye-oww! Frida!" Frida taped the gauze together and smiled playfully.

"All done." Manny rubbed his arm.

"Terrific," he muttered. Frida put her arm around his shoulders.

"You know Manny, my house is always available if you ever need somewhere to go." Manny raised an eyebrow. He grinned like a cocky idiot.

"Why? Cause you can't keep your eyes off me?" Frida pushed him.

"No!" she snapped, tinting pink ever-so-slightly. She folded her arms. "I'm just saying. You can't stay in that old, run-down house all your life."

"First of all, that hurt." Manny stood up and grabbed his jacket, rubbing his bruised cheek. "Second, thanks, but no thanks." He slid his jacket on. "Even if I wanted to, which I don't, your dad would go ballistic. He gets pissed if I even come within ten feet of your house."

"Because he's the chief of police, you dip," Frida explained, rolling her eyes. "With all the fights you get in, he's up to his neck in reasons to not like you. You cause a lot of commotion."

"And Paolo doesn't?"

"You get the point, Manny."

"Whatever. Why are you so into helping me, anyway?" Frida stood up, walked over to him, and punched him in his good arm.

"Friends do that for each other," she explained, smiling. "Stupid." Manny laughed a little.

"Right." He rubbed his arm. "For the moment, I'm fine. I'm not sure how, but I'll be getting out of here." Frida shrugged.

"Let's hope so." She slung her backpack over her shoulder and started walking away. "And that offer I made is on the table either way." That was the last thing she said before disappearing around the corner of the street. Manny stared after her, blinked, and headed up the stairs of his current home. _Somehow, I just know my luck's gonna change real soon…I just know it._

Well, whaddaya say? Should I continue this? Reviews are helpful and nice!


	2. Top Floor Mystery

Don't take it personally, my anime-fic watchers…I just like El Tigre a whole damn lot right now.

And I changed it from the basement to Manny's actual home, the penthouse. Figured it would be more realistic. But hey, it's fanfiction. Does it really need to be realistic? In my case, yes.

**Chapter 2**

**Top Floor Mystery**

A crow cawed in the distance. Manny stared up at the ceiling, frowning. He couldn't sleep. At all. It wasn't his injury keeping him awake; that had stopped hurting a while ago. It was his own mind. His watch beeped on the midnight hour. (A/N: Yes, he has a watch. Bought it when he still had some money left over) He sighed and shook his head.

"For the love of…_Sleep_ already!" Silence followed. Manny slapped his forehead. _Oh yes, because giving yourself commands __**always**__ works… If it actually __**did**__ work, there would be no need for people to go buy those sleeping pills._ He sat up and jumped to his feet. "Well, I've already checked out this area… Let's see what's on the top floor." Winding his arm, with caution so he wouldn't open his wound, he located the almost-destroyed staircase leading to the top floor. He looked down the entire time, trying not to step on any weak spots in the wood. Last thing he needed was to fall through.

His watch beeped. One o'clock. Manny groaned. Climbing the stairs had taken him an _hour_? _Sheesh, how careful was I __**being**__?_ Nevertheless, he found himself standing in front of the door which led to the old penthouse. He stared at the doorknob as if he were in a trance. _Should_ he?

Damn _straight_ he should.

Manny grabbed the rusted knob and turned it slowly. The door creaked loudly as it opened. Manny peered inside. Everything was dusty and broken, and cobwebs hung from the ceilings. Not that he cared. That just added to the mystery of the top floor's old home. He stepped inside and took a better look around. A half-crushed fireplace stood at the other end of the room. The windows were broken through and the curtain were torn. There were miscellaneous holes in the ceiling. Rubble and dirt covered the floor. Manny could easily see that he was the only one who had been up here in years. Filling with curiosity, he closed the door behind him, and headed into another room.

Manny didn't have to open a door to get into the room; the door had already been knocked down…And from the imprint, it was someone with a very large and powerful fist. Even with the dust and lack of light, with the exception of the full moon shining through the broken window, he could tell that the room had been a bright orange color once. There was hardly anything in the room, probably due to the small size of it. However, Manny did notice something strange- There was a crib. A child's crib. _An infant's_ crib.

For reasons unbeknownst to even himself, Manny's curiosity was peaked at this. He crept over, avoiding anything he could trip over, and peeked into the child's bed. There were shredded remains of a cloth, which was probably once the child's blanket, and an old stuffed tiger toy with one of its ears torn off. Manny picked it up, examining it closely. It sparked something in his head, almost like he recognized it. He shook his head. _Nah._ He dropped the toy back into the crib, snorting. "No way I'd recognize it." Then he noticed something strange. He moved a scrap of the blanket out of the way, getting a better look.

There were streaks of blood on the mattress, some broken in the middle, as if there had been something in the middle. Manny squinted his eyes, trying to form a picture in his mind. And then he realized it. There had been a child there. The child was the one who had gotten hurt. And by the shape and position of the blood, the child had been slashed across the face. Manny touched the scar on his face absent-mindedly. _This is starting to get strange._ He backed away from the crib, and headed out of the room.

The next room was directly next to the child's room. A large bed was in the center of it. Broken, but still a bed. Manny walked in, looking around. There were pieces of wood strewed across the floor, along with what seemed to be a broken mirror. A closet was embedded in one wall, and tattered clothes were inside. Manny put two and two together and decided that this must have been the parents' room.

Manny looked at his wristwatch. One-thirty-seven. He ignored the time and continued to look around. Nothing was really interesting. Then he heard something moving in the closet. Manny picked up a piece of wood off the floor and began heading towards the closet, being ready for something to pop out. In one liquid motion, Manny opened the closet wide, brought the wooden plank down and began beating the moving pile of clothes. Rats flew out from beneath the clothing and into different directions. One jumped onto Manny's chest, much to his surprise.

"What the-!? Get off!" Manny pushed the rat off him quickly, slipping on a shirt in the process. He fell back, landing in the closet. Dust was raised in the air from the fall. Manny coughed, trying to get the dirt out of his airways. "Blegh." He put his hand out to sit up, only to find himself slipping again. He cursed under his breath and looked over at what he had slipped on that time. It turned out to be a black box. "Stupid box." Then his brown eyes caught sight of something that had fallen out of the box. Manny blinked, sat up quickly, and grabbed the box. "What the heck?" He stood up and got out of the closet, holding the box up to the moonlight. It was something wrapped in a white cloth with a note pinned to it. Manny removed the piece of paper from the cloth and opened it up. He had to squint to see the handwriting on it, but when he did, his eyes became wide. On the note, it said:

_To be given to Manny when he turns thirteen._

Manny read that single sentence over and over. No, not him. It couldn't mean him. _Could it?_ He didn't exactly know how common the name Manny was, but what he had seen in the infant crib was deepening suspicions. Tossing the letter aside, Manny reached into the box, removed the cloth, and pulled out…

A belt.

Manny stared at it. It was a regular belt with a square buckle in the center. The letter **T** was engraved on it. This was it? A belt? Huh. Not what he thought would be in there. Nevertheless, Manny lifted his jacket and slipped the belt on. It was a perfect fit. He looked down at it, in some sort admiration. He realized what he was doing and rolled his eyes.

"Oh wow…" he muttered. "I'm admiring a _belt buckle_." He played the buckle for a few moments. "Yup, I'm officially simple-minded." He snorted to himself, becoming a bit sarcastic. "Playing with a belt buckle is _so_ normal." He fingered the buckle once more, spinning it a few times before stopping. However, before he could continue to belittle himself for playing with a belt, he felt some sort of aura coming off the buckle. A sensation went through his body, making him feel nervous. And just as it had came, the feeling was gone. Manny blinked. Silence filled the air for moments. "What just happened?" It appeared that nothing had. He exhaled loudly and wiped his forehead. "Thank God…" And then he noticed his new claws. He looked at his hands and started to get his nervous feeling again. "Huh!? _Claws_!?" Something rubbed against his leg. Manny jumped. He looked down, and felt his eyes widen. He had a tail. Not just any tail, but a tiger tail. Manny looked down at himself. His entire outfit had changed. He grabbed his head. "What's going on here!?" Manny felt fur graze his face. He pulled on it, and felt his eyes become twice their size. It was part of a mask. He screamed…Only for it to come out as a roar.

"_EL TIGRE!"_

Cliché, I know…well, it probably is… Flames will be used to burn my failed algebra tests.


	3. El Tigre's Local Appearance

This might seem rushed, okay?

**Chapter 3**

**El Tigre's Local Appearance**

Manny got over the initial shock of his costume change after hitting his head against the wall a few dozen times in a row. He then came to the conclusion that he wasn't dreaming after all…Losing a few brain cells in the process.

"If I'm not dreaming, I must be going insane," he murmured. "I mean, there's no way I could just change like that." _And what did I say? El Tigre? What the __**hell**__ is __**that**__ supposed to mean?_ He didn't know what time it was exactly, but he figured it must be around two. Manny slapped his forehead. "Great. Now going to bed is going to be even _harder_. Especially since I have to sleep in _this_ thing." He looked down at, what he gathered to be, his uniform. It was actually pretty comfortable, but it didn't look like the best thing to _sleep_ in. "Dammit…" Manny stomped his foot on the ground out of frustration. It went through the unstable floor.

"Uhh…Whoops. Hope no one needed the floor for anything." He looked around and snorted. "What am I saying? Of course no one needs it. This place is abandoned." With those words, he exited the room and began his descent to the lowest floor of the building.

_**The next morning…**_

Manny was still asleep at twelve in the afternoon; and because he was still in the outfit he had changed into the night before, his watch had somehow vanished. No annoying alarm today. However, the feeling of something rubbing against his nose woke him up instead. Manny slowly opened one eye, only to see a striped tiger's tail in his face. His eyes shot open. "Eh…?" The startle woke him up indefinitely. Before he could even question as to why there was a tail in his face, he noticed his _odd_ sleeping arrangement…He had somehow curled up like a kitten. Manny felt his pride slowly ebbing away at this. He would've thought that his mind was completely gone if he hadn't remembered his little discovery he had made last night. He immediately unraveled from his humiliating position and sat on his butt. Manny shook his head and looked at his claws and tail.

"I think this costume's messing with my head." _And how long was I sleeping for?_ On a normal day, Manny would get up around ten in the morning. He looked at his wrist, only to find that his watch wasn't there. He slapped his forehead for the billionth time in half a day. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me it disappeared with the _rest_ of my normal clothes…" Out of aggravation, Manny pulled off his glove and threw it to the floor. That's when he noticed that his glove hadn't come off. His _hand_ had come off. His eyes widened. For minutes on end, he continued to look between his detached hand and arm.

"_HOLY CRAP!"_ He grabbed his hand off the floor and desperately tried to reattach it to his wrist. "HO-LY _CRAAAP_! Why isn't it going back on!?" Several moments of trying made him realize it wasn't going to reattach that way. He sighed. "Well, _this_ sucks." Manny looked at the appendage he held and raised an eyebrow. He looked down at his costume and then back at his hand. "I bet this stupid–looking outfit has something to do with it."

_Retract._

Manny's head jerked upwards. Momentarily forgetting about his hand, and looked around, left and right, eyes slightly narrowing. "Who's there? Show yourself!" No answer. "If it's a fight you're looking for, I'm warning you, I'm undefeatable!" Of course that was a lie, but there's no way he'd let anyone sneak up on _him_.

_Retract._

It was louder the second time. Manny stood up straight, going back to his confused state of mind. "Uh…Retract?" No sooner than he said it, his severed hand became one with his wrist again. He blinked twice, not taking his emerald eyes from his reattached limb. A grin slowly appeared on his face. "Ooooh…I _get_ it!" _I think._ "This costume is better that I thought it was! It's weird, but still-!" He looked around the room, trying to locate something to test his 'claws' on. Unfortunately for him, anything that could be grabbed was something that was holding up the foundation. He groaned. "Must be _something_ around here I can-" He spotted a streetlight through a nearby window. He smirked.

"Who says I need to practice in _here_?"

_**Somewhere in Miracle City…**_

"_YEEEEAAAAAHHHH!"_

Manny used his claws to swing between the streetlights and buildings, his gleeful face showing just how much he was enjoying himself. "I take back every bad thing I said about this stupid outfit, this is _awesome_! I'm acting like I'm twelve again, and _I don't care_!" He let go of the telephone pole wire he was currently dangling from and landed on the roof of the police station. _And I don't even have to __**say**__ retract anymore!_ "I wonder if this thing has any other surprises…" he wondered aloud. Before he could try anything, though, the sound of the police sirens came from below. Manny looked over the edge of the roof and spotted the police cars exiting from the garage. They turned left once they left. In one of the cars, Manny could see Chief Suarez's determined face. "Where _they_ all going in such a hurry?" Manny's face went from a smile to a determined frown. "I think I'll follow 'em." Instead of using his, what he now calls, grappling hands, he jumped over the roof's edge and landed on the ground with a feline grace he didn't know he possessed. He shrugged before taking off like a speeding, well, tiger.

_Guess agility and speed come with the suit as well._

_**A few blocks away…**_

Manny turned a corner, still trailing the police as best as he could, ignoring the stares of pedestrians. He tried to stick with the stealth act as much as possible, but due to his lack of experience with the unnatural speed he was now going at, he almost ran in front of the police cars and blew his cover. Once or twice he almost ran into a building or pole due to his poor traction.

Manny was so busy concentrating on the cars that he almost didn't see them stop. He skidded to a halt using his heels and ducked behind a nearby newspaper stand. He almost gasped when he saw what the police were in such a hurry for.

An army of skeletons was standing in front of Leone High School.

The first thing that popped into Manny's mind was the question of how skeletons could even be _alive_, never mind form an _army_. When he double-checked the location, he felt all parts of his body, including his new tail, stiffen. _That's __**Frida's**__ school! What could a skeleton army be doing __**here**__?_ As if on cue, Chief Suarez turned to his men and started to give them directions.

"As you all know, Sartana of the Dead, the infamous supervillain, is inside of Leone High School." Manny furrowed his brows. _Sartana of the Dead?_ If this Sartana was so famous, why hadn't _he_ heard of her before? "She has her eyes on the Aureo Aguila statue, which the museum loaned to the school so the students could learn more about it." The chief paused for dramatic effect. "I do not think she would harm any of the students, but if we get in her pathway, she could. The plan is to wait outside here until she emerges, and then reclaim the statue. It is the only way to capture her without hurting any children." A chorus of answers was heard from the rest of the policemen. Manny's jaw nearly dropped. They were just going to sit out here and _wait_? How stupid _were_ these guys? And what if they couldn't get Sartana _or_ the statue? _Then_ what? He slid his hand down his face.

"Guess this is where I step in." Manny stood up and started formulating a plan in his head. It didn't take him long; mainly because he just decided on winging it.

Chief Suarez pointed to his men, giving tasks out. "Team Alpha will ready their guns; shoot as soon as you think Sartana could pose a threat and or escape. Team Beta, you- _Hey_!" He cut himself off when he saw a peculiarly-dressed teen hop over the police cars. His body twisted around, not losing sight of the boy. "What do you think you're doing!?"

Manny ignored Chief Suarez's protesting yells. He stopped when he was directly in front of the skeleton army. They all rotated their heads towards him. He put his arms up, flexing his claws. "Hey guys," he greeted the undead militia, mockery so obviously placed in his voice. "How'd you all like to be dead for a second time?" With that, he jumped in the air, and came down slashing at the skeletons. Some were smart enough to move…Others, not so much. They disintegrated as soon as they felt the deadly caress of his claws. Another was flattened by Manny, who just happened to be looking for a spot to land. "Man, you guys are-" Before he could finished his sentence, the skeleton men that he had previously destroyed reassembled themselves. "Cake?" He laughed nervously. "Ehehe…" _Dammit._ He shook his head, trying to regain his cocky composure. "You guys don't go down easy, do you? Guess I'll have to get serious." _Even though I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing._ "Come and get me!" The skeleton banditos gratefully accepted his invitation, lunging at him from all directions. Recounting his enemies, Manny figured that the sentence he just said had to be one of the dumbest.

Manny turned around and raked his claws against four skeletons at once, only to have them come back to life as the others had. He growled and tried his tear-apart strategy again. And again, and again, and again, the banditos coming back to life every time. Manny pulled on his tiger ears. "Don't these guys _ever_ give up!?" Only then did he think of his grappling claws. He smacked his forehead. "Oh, _duh_." Manny quickly jumped in the air, dodging a dogpile of skeletons that surely would've landed on him, had he not shifted his position. He shot his hand at a window on the second floor of the school and grabbed the ledge. "Later!" he called mockingly to the army. Manny once again wore his grin and began to scale the school's outside wall.

_**Inside Leone High School…**_

Sartana roamed through the hallway, guitar handing from her shoulder, as always. She laughed; it was an evil one, just like always. "Those children were thoughtless enough to actually tell me where the Aureo Aguila was!" she exclaimed. "Fools!" Just as she arrived at the door to the statue's location, a determined voice came from behind her.

"Hey Sartana, as a _fool_, I don't take lightly to insults!" Sartana turned around, annoyed that there was a delay in her plan. Frida stood there, her own red guitar in her hand, plugged into a large amplifier. Sartana laughed again.

"And _what_, pray tell, do you expect to do with _that_?" Frida grinned and turned her amp up to ten. She let out a wild screech and brought her guitar pick down on her strings. (A/N: I can totally imagine this happening in the cartoon, whether she's a kid or not) The waves from the chord coming from the amp sent Sartana right through the door. Frida stopped her chord and pulled out her earplugs fir a moment.

"How about that, Sartana?" Said skeleton woman simply cackled evilly and stood up.

"You are a fool, girl! All you did was make getting the statue easier!" Frida blinked.

"Whoops." Sartana snapped her fingers. An undead skeleton bandito immediately came.

"Keep her in your grasp, bandito," she commanded. "Until I'm done here." The bandito nodded and grabbed Frida in his arms. She spat her tongue out.

"Okay, _gross_. I'm being hugged by a dead guy." Sartana ignored the blue-haired girl's protests and cast her greedy, err, eyes (?) on the gold figure sitting in the middle of the room on a podium.

"Leaving the Aureo Aguila at a school…And unattended, nonetheless! The curator must be some kind of idiot." Just as she was reaching for the artifact, a chain wrapped around her body. She looked down in surprise, obviously not expecting to be shackled as such. "Now what!?"

"You know, it's not nice to steal things that belong to someone else," an overconfident voice came. "Especially if they're priceless Mayan artifacts." Sartana turned her head, only to see Manny standing there, one arm held out; the arm that was holding her there. He grabbed the chain with his other hand and pulled on it. Sartana felt herself being lifted into the air.

"What do you think you're-!?" Her question was answered when her body began to fly around in circles. Manny spun her in the air quite a few times before releasing her and recalling his chain hand. Sartana smashed into the wall. Manny stared. _That actually __**worked**__?_ Sartana gradually stood up, glaring (again, ?) at the youth who had _dared_ to toss her aside. She stared at his uniform, and then at his overly-cocky face. "Who are you supposed to be?" she questioned, her voice dangerously calm. Manny faltered. Good question.

"I am…Uh…" _Think of a name, think of a name…Oh yeah!_ Manny regained his grin. "I am… _El Tigre_!" Sartana continually glared at him.

"Well then, _El Tigre_," she spat, grabbing her guitar and aiming it at Manny. "As the supervillainess of Miracle City, allow me to give you a warm welcome!" She strummed the guitar with her finger, letting loose a powerful beam of energy. Manny was blown back against the parallel wall. A crack appeared where he had impacted. He picked himself up off the ground, holding his head.

"Did not see that coming…" She's definitely more powerful than those other brain-dead skeletons. Sartana snickered.

"I can already tell that you've never been in a _real_ battle before, El Tigre. I never would have suspected." Manny's grappling hand, once again, wrapped around her.

"Oh, shut up." He pulled on his chain and smacked the skeleton woman against the same wall he had collided with, making sure to swing extra hard. He retracted his hand and ran over to Frida before Sartana could recover. He slashed through the skeleton bandito holding her captive from behind, releasing her. He watched the bones carefully; after a few seconds, he figured these wouldn't come back to life. _Maybe because Sartana's concentrating on her army outside…_ Manny shook his head and looked up at Frida, who was going on about zombies invading her personal space bubble. "You okay, Fri- Uh, miss?" He narrowly caught his mistake. Frida turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm fine, mister, um…El Tigre?" Manny snorted.

"No need to be so formal."

"Okay then. I'm fine, El Tigre."

"Better." Manny smiled. Frida blinked. _He seems familiar…_ Both of them were busy talking. Neither of them noticed the beam heading in Frida's direction until it hit. Frida shrieked in surprise. Manny's smile instantly vanished. "Frida!" No answer. He ran over to her and knelt down, trying to see if she was okay. He sighed in relief. She was unconscious; alive, but hurt. Manny gripped his hand into a fist and stood up. "Sartana! Why drag her into this? She was doing nothing wrong!" Sartana screeched with laugher.

"You're just like _all_ the other Riveras, El Tigre! Always acting so noble!" Manny flinched. _All the other…How does she know my name?_ He put his hands up in a defense stance.

"What are you talking about, you crazed bag of bones?" he challenged. He flexed his claws. "You talk like you know something about me."

"Of _course_ I do!" Sartana retorted, still smirking. "I knew who you were when I first saw your outfit! And the _name_, don't get me _started_! You're the son of that White Pantera hero from years ago!" Manny froze. _The son of White Pantera? Who's-?_ He had to break off his thoughts to dodge another of Sartana's beams. He jumped and rebounded off the wall. _I've got it!_ Manny found himself grinning again. _Her guitar is her source of power! If I can destroy __**that**__…!_ "Haven't you had enough yet, El Tigre?"

"Not quite, Sartana!" Manny extended his arm out, ready to use his grappling hand again. Sartana snickered.

"Do you really think I'd fall for that again?" She strummed her guitar and shot at the tiger-themed hero again.

"No, I didn't." Manny turned his hand away and aimed up high; his claws helped him latch onto the ceiling. He tugged on it, making sure it was tight, and jumped. Sartana missed her target. Manny, however, was sure that he wouldn't. He swung from the ceiling, stuck his leg out, and kicked the undead villainess into the wall again. Before he swung backwards, he used his free claws to cut her guitar strap. Manny seized the instrument from her and kicked off the wall. Sartana screamed.

"You brat! Give me back my guitar!" Manny released the ceiling and landed on his feet.

"_Brat_? I'm not a kid. So no, I don't think I will." Before Sartana could protest, Manny tore the guitar to shreds with his extended claws. Sartana let out a howl of defeat and disintegrated in a flash of green light. Manny wiped his forehead. "She's gone." He snorted. "Finally. I was getting sick of her…" His face instantly changed when he remembered Frida. He gazed over at her with his emerald eyes. _Better help her out…_

_**Outside the school…**_

All of Sartana's undead minions had fallen, just as she had. The police and bystanders didn't know what had happened. All of a sudden, a figure was seen jumping down from the second story window. Chief Suarez made a signal for his men to wait. The person came closer. "No need to fire, officers." Chief Suarez looked at the person in amazement. It was the boy who had gone in earlier! However, instead of amazed, he was infuriated when he saw Frida in his arms.

"What are you doing with my daughter, you fiend!?" Manny jumped at the loud voice.

"Hey, if it wasn't for me, she would've been hurt even more! And that reminds me…" Manny put the Aureo Aguila on the ground with his tail. "You might wanna give that back to the museum curator." There was silence. One of the policemen spoke up.

"Don't tell me…_You_ defeated _Sartana_?" Gasps were heard. Manny shrugged.

"Well, yeah. Kinda. I killed his guitar and she kinda went…_Poof_." Murmurs replaced the gasps. "I can't say I defeated her for good, though. She'll probably be back." Manny walked over to Chief Suarez and handed Frida over to him. "She's just unconscious. Not dead." A question came from a woman behind the police cars.

"Are you the new White Pantera?" she called. _There's that name again._ Manny shook his head.

"Sort of. I'm a new hero." Manny shot his grappling hook at a house behind the police. He retracted it and landed on the roof. "My name," he called out. "Is El Tigre." He then disappeared from sight as he continued to roof-jump.


	4. Conversation Between Friends

**Chapter 4**

**Conversation Between Friends**

Frida finally came to after a few hours of unconsciousness. The first thing she saw was her cat standing over her, staring at her face. It licked her nose with its rough, pink tongue. She swatted it away, and it jumped off the bed. Frida ran her hand through her bangs. "What _hit_ me?" She couldn't remember much; but by the position of the sun in the sky, she figured that she had been out for quite some time. Footsteps were heard in the hallway. Emiliano Suarez entered his daughter's room, unannounced.

"Mija, are you okay?" Frida nodded.

"I'm fine, dad," she answered. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up. "But I don't exactly remember what happened with Sartana of the Dead." Emiliano folded his arms.

"She was defeated." Frida's eyes widened considerably.

"Eh? She _was_!?"

"Si. Apparently that…" His eyes narrowed dangerously. "..._El Tigre_ smashed her guitar." Frida snapped her fingers.

"Oh yeah! El Tigre! _He's_ the one who saved me!"

"_Saved_ you!?" Emiliano exploded. "It's because of _him_ that you got hit by Sartana!" _So __**that's**__ what happened,_ Frida realized.

"Big _deal_, Dad. I'm fine, aren't I?" Frida folded her arms in defiance and stood up. "Besides, he _saved_ me. You _should_ be grateful to him for _that_." She walked past her father and into the hall. "I'm going to talk to Manny for a bit." This only served to agitate her father even more.

"I thought I told you I disliked you hanging around that boy!"

"Geez, Dad! What's up with you!? Why do you hate Manny and El Tigre so much? You like my _other_ friends just fine!" Frida was down the stairs before her father could reply. Although he was sure she wouldn't hear him, Emiliano called out,

"Because they're _both_ too dangerous for you to be around!" Maybe he was making assumptions too early on, but Chief Suarez could already tell that El Tigre would become one of the biggest problems in his life.

He didn't know how right he was.

_**Casa Del Macho…**_

Many paced back and forth. He wasn't sure how, exactly, but somehow he had ended up being Miracle City's new hero; the new 'White Pantera', as a civilian had quoted. _Just who __**is**__ he, anyway?_ Sartana's words replayed in his mind.

"_You're the son of that White Pantera hero from years ago!"_

Manny stopped pacing and folded his arms. _Am I __**really**__ the son of a __**superhero**__?_ He didn't think it was possible for him, a normal teen, to be that extraordinary. Speaking of normal… "How do I _return_ to normal!?" He knew for a fact that just yelling out 'change back' wasn't going to work; he had already tried _that_ plan. _So how would I change-?_ Suddenly, the door burst open, and Frida barged in. (A/N: Yes, door. Broken and somewhat off the hinges, but still a door)

"Manny! Sorry I didn't come today, but you won't _believe_ what happened to me! Sartana of the Dead came to my school and-" She paused and frowned. No one was there. "Oh, come on! Where'd he go?" She rolled her eyes. "I _swear_, if he's gotten himself into _another_ fight and gets hurt again, I'm going to _castrate_ that moron _myself_!" She left the abandoned building, in search of her friend, completely unaware of his location…Which, currently, was the ceiling. Manny had been so surprised by Frida's arrival that he had jumped into the air. In fear of his best friend finding him in his El Tigre outfit, he had simply stayed on the ceiling by using his claws to dig into the cement. His enhanced strength kept him there. Manny dropped down from his hiding spot and landed in a crouching position.

"First I get so surprised that I jump, and now I'm landing perfectly on my feet and hands…" He stood up, shaking his head. "I was right; this outfit's messing with me." He turned his head towards the door, sort of scared. "And what is with her and castrating me?" _If I didn't know better, I'd think she __**wants**__ to do it herself…_ He shook his head, recalling more important matters. "Now back to the matter at hand…How the hell do I get back to _normal_!? _There's gotta be __**some**__ way I can return to my ordinary self!_

_The buckle._

Manny paused in his ranting. "Hey, it's that voice again…" He looked down at his belt. "Wha…The _belt buckle_? What does _that_ have to do with anything?" He stared at the silver buckle adorning the belt with perplexed green eyes. He looked at it from every angle possible, tilting his head to the right. "Besides the whole giving-me-a-super-powered-outfit thing, it seems like any regular-" He cut himself off. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized, somewhat, what he had to do. A knowing smile slowly crept across his face. "But it's _not_ an ordinary belt buckle, _is_ it?" He raised an eyebrow, still grinning. "_Now_ I get it." Manny twirled the buckle a second time, but instead of feeling the power enter his body, he felt it leaving; and, just like before, the transformation had been quick and easy.

Manny looked at his hands; no gloves or claws. He felt the side of his face, and was relieved to feel no fur; or a mask, for that matter. But the most reassurance came when he looked down and saw his normal clothing. He wiped his forehead. "Thank God… I don't know _what_ I would've done if I couldn't change back…" _And now that I have my clothes again…_ Manny dashed out the door, hoping Frida wasn't too far away. Fortunately for him, he knew Frida very well…

_**Three blocks down…**_

"One churro, please."

"Right away, senorita." Frida played with her bracelet absent-mindedly. She had checked everywhere Manny could possibly have been, hell, she even checked with Paolo, and she still hadn't found her friend. She decided he must be avoiding her for some reason. Sure, it was jumping to conclusions, but he had never done this before…Well, once, but it was because Manny had been in trouble with the principal of their middle school. The whole scenario involved a hot glue gun, fire and a stink bomb, but Frida didn't want to bring _that_ story up unless Manny was around to laugh at it with her. Speaking of which…

"Frida!" The blue-haired girl's head jerked up at the sound of her name being called. She turned around and saw Manny running to catch up with her. He adjusted his jacket as he stopped running. "Found you."

"Found _me_?" Frida replied. "_I_ was the one looking for _you_."

"Yeah, somehow I knew you'd be looking for me…"

"But how'd you know I'd be-"

"Frida, it's a _churro_ stand. It's pretty obvious you'd be here."

"Here you go, senorita." Frida turned her head to the churro salesman and grinned.

"Alright! Thanks!" She put two dollars in the man's hand, grabbing her churro in the process. She turned back to Manny and started walking. "So anyway, you wanted to talk?" Manny walked beside her.

"Uh, no. _You_ wanted to talk to _me_."

"Oh yeah. Sorry." Frida bit off a piece of her churro. "Anyway, didja' hear about what happened at my school today?" Manny feigned shock.

"No, what happened?" he asked, fake worry detained in his voice. He tried to act surprised without sounding sarcastic. It turned out that he was a very good actor.

"Sartana of the Dead went after that gold statue that was lent to Leone High!"

"Really? Did she get away?" Frida shook her head and smiled, taking another bite of her snack.

"That's the surprising part; Sartana was beaten!" Manny's jaw dropped in false surprise.

"Get out. By who?"

"A new hero who calls himself El Tigre." Frida gazed at the red-orange sky. "He really doesn't _look_ like the kind of person who could conquer Sartana; plus, he's sort of _cocky_…" Manny laughed, biting back a retort. _Yeah, thanks. Nice to know what you think of me._ "But he _was_ pretty cool." Manny stopped his laughter and stared at Frida in surprise. "His hand extended into a chain, cool power, and he slammed Sartana into the wall over and over! Plus, this guy has the more flexibility than an acrobat! He even saved me from one of Sartana's minions, even though I _did_ get hurt slightly." A light blush crept across Manny's cheeks.

"H-he sounds like an awesome guy…" he murmured.

"I bet he is." Frida continued to smile, her face turning pink. Manny just figured it was from the sunset. He snorted.

"The way you talk about him, you sound like you _like_ him or something…" he snickered.

"Maybe I do." Manny almost lost his footing from her comment. He coughed, trying to get his breath back.

"W-wait, what…!?" He stared at her. "You _can't_ be serious." Frida raised an eyebrow.

"I said _maybe_, stupid," she replied. Manny turned red again. _Oh God, she's crushing on **me**! Well, not **me**, but **part** of me! _"And what do you care?" Frida's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"I don't, but…Why _him_? There are probably a bunch of other _normal_ guys out there!"

"If you're talking about _Sergio_, I think I'll pass."

"Not _that_ moron!"

"Then who were you implying?" Manny went silent, his mouth opening and closing before shutting it completely. He folded his arms tightly and looked away.

"No one; forget it…" Frida gave him a skeptical stare.

"You know, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you were _jealous_, Manny." Manny's caramel eyes shot open.

"_Jealous_!? Why would _I_ be-!?" He stared at her with an irritated face. He couldn't tell if she was teasing him or being serious. "_Believe_ me, I'm _not_. And if I _was_, I wouldn't get jealous of _him_." _Is it even __**possible**__ to get jealous of myself?_ He went with yes._ Why can't she like someone **other** than El Tigre? I'd even be okay with her liking the **real** me..._ He blinked, only processing his thoughts seconds after having them. _Err, I'll drop the idea._ He shook his head slightly. "Besides, I wouldn't get _jealous_ over _you_." Frida frowned.

"Oh, is that _so_?" She folded her arms. "Glad to know you think I'm so unappealing." Manny's face faltered.

"Eh? _No_! I never said-!"

"You didn't have to." She picked up her pace a little bit. "I have to go now; I actually _told_ my dad I was going to talk to you and if I don't go back now, he's going to kill me."

"Are you saying that because you think I said-?"

"Later, Manny." Frida was now running ahead of him.

"Hey, wait! Frida-" She didn't hear him. Either that or she was ignoring him. He smacked his forehead. "Smooth, Rivera, smooth…" _How can my own alter ego get me into so much trouble?_

_------------_

Well, now Manny gets a taste of what his split personality's gonna cause him in the future. Not just problems with Frida, but everything _else _as well…Muwahahaha.


	5. History and Job Hunting

The time has come for Manny to learn about White Pantera! Huzzah!

**Chapter 5**

**History and Job Hunting**

Manny looked through the newspaper, his eyes scrolling up and down the pages. No, he wasn't looking at the news section; he was looking at the ads again. _Job_ ads. As in, he was looking for a job himself.

Usually, the ads simply advertised disgusting or dangerous jobs that no one wanted. Some jobs had low pay, while others you needed a lot of experience to do. So it was quite obvious why Manny hadn't gotten a job yet.

However, as Manny looked over the last few columns of ads, he did spot one that appealed to him. It was an ad from the Miracle City Police; apparently one of the officials is retiring and a new, preferably younger, officer is needed. Manny half-smiled. He knew for a fact that being part of the police force was a dangerous job, especially in a cesspool like Miracle City. The burglars were ruthless and the supervillans were even worse. More than half the time the criminals got away. _But if the police had someone like __**El Tigre**__ on their side…_ The crime rate would probably drop, even if only a bit.

A new thought made his smile wane. He shook his head. "Nah, that's no good…If I sign up as El Tigre, it'll still seem like Manny Rivera doesn't have a job. Frida would probably ask where I got the money from." _Unless I wanna blow my secret, she'd think I __**stole**__ it. Her __**dad**__ would find out and…_ He didn't have to think about what would happen next. _Still…_ Manny ripped the ad off the bottom of the page and stuffed it in his pocket. _Just in case._ Lucky for him, the person who was supposed to be operating the stand was taking a siesta, so he didn't see Manny tear off the ad. Plus, it _was_ yesterday's paper; Manny doubted the man would care anyway. "I'd better find another one…" Before he could even engage himself in the job listings again, the sound of a bell came. Manny looked up from the paper and saw Señor Romero hanging a sign outside his store; he headed back inside right after. Manny tossed the newspaper and ran across the street.

Señor Romero was the proprietor of a family-owned grocery store called Angelic Mercado. He was a very bright man, and very kind. The store was always kept clean, and all the produce fresh; and when Manny saw the _**HELP WANTED**_ sign in the window, he knew where he wanted to work.

The small bell rang again as Manny entered the store. "Señor Romero!" A middle-aged man in his late forties heard his name and turned around. A broad smile spread across his face.

"Ah, mijo!" He slapped the sixteen-year-old on the back in a greeting gesture. "How are you, Manny?" Manny grinned. He and Romero had been friends for a while now.

"Fine, better than usual," he answered. "Anyway, I wanted to ask what you had to do to apply for the job." Romero looked surprised.

"You want to apply for the job?"

"If it's okay." Romero smiled and slapped Manny on the back once more for good measure.

"I never thought you were the working type, mijo!" _Ha ha, thanks Romero._ "But if you want the job, you can have it!" Manny blinked.

"Seriously? You're not joking around again, are you?"

"No, if you want it, you got it! You're welcome!" Manny flashed a thumbs-up at his adult friend.

"Thanks! So, uh…When do I start?"

"Right now."

"Eh?" Romero turned around and picked up a stack of today's newspapers.

"First job; put a few of these on every checkout line's racks. Make sure they all face front." Manny's mouth twitched in an effort to frown, but he saw Romero's gentle smile and nodded.

"Sure." Manny walked past Romero and to the first checkout line. He put the newspaper stack down and took the first six off the top. Before he placed them, however, he caught the headline. He read the large-font caption over and over again in both amazement and surprise, dropping all the papers but the one he was reading.

_MIRACLE CITY'S NEWEST HERO SLASHES SARTANA_

Manny didn't think anyone had paid attention to his little rescue mission. But here he was, in the headlines, with a front page cover to boot…Not to mention a blown-up picture of him rescuing Frida. The Aureo Aguila, although he had rescued that too, was held in his tail and out of shot. So basically, it just looked like him holding Frida in his arms. It was strange to look at yourself in the newspaper. He read the article on the front to himself:

_For almost two decades, Miracle City has suffered from a seemingly never-ending crime wave. It has been the number one place for criminals and supervillains alike to take what they wish and torture civilians; Sartana of the Dead is the most revered of all villains, and one of the most deadly, no pun intended. She has given the police much trouble in the past, and she shows no signs of stopping. However, it is safe to say that she won't be bothering Miracle City for a while after her recent defeat. _

_Sartana was put to rest, so to speak, by a young hero who goes by the name El Tigre. He single-handedly conquered Sartana and took back the Aureo Aguila. Who he is, where he came from, we have yet to discern; but we do know that he shows a lot of promise as a superhero. When we asked Chief Suarez about what he thought of the young hero, we got no response. However, we went around asking witnesses what they thought about El Tigre, and we got these mixed answers:_

"_It's about time this city got some new heroic blood in it!"- Carmelo Diaz _

"_The new White Pantera has arrived, I'm sure of it!"- Anastasia Medina_

"_Despite the fact that he's agile and quick on his feet, he's only a teenage boy from what I can tell. I'm worried for him; being a hero that young makes him a susceptible target if his identity was ever found out."- Jacqueline Woodford_

"_Wait, is this going in the paper? Sweet! Nice job puttin' Sartana down, Tigre Man!" Antonio Castro_

_It seems like El Tigre's already got supporters here in Miracle City. But can he keep up with the never-ending crime spree and robberies? _

Romero caught Manny looking at the paper.

"Amazing, huh?" he called. Manny turned his head. "Miracle City hasn't had a hero in almost _sixteen_ _years_, and all of a sudden, a new one pops out of nowhere." Manny put the paper on the rack.

"Yeah, he's cool, I _guess_," he replied. "What do _you_ think of him, Romero?"

"El Tigre's definitely got some potential. He took down Sartana in his first fight." Manny grinned inwardly. "Just hope he doesn't end up like White Pantera." His face faltered. Again. White Pantera's name had come up again.

"Hey, Romero…" he started. "Can you tell me about White Pantera? Like…What his powers were, and what happened to him?" There was a pause. Romero sighed.

"I suppose; just finish putting those newspapers on the racks and I'll start my little history lesson." Manny was now eager to do his first job. He picked up the stack once more and started filling the racks.

It didn't take the Rivera boy long to finish the stack. He had always been fast on his feet, and the motivation of learning about White Pantera when he was finished only fueled him more. Romero knew the boy was a hard worker. That's why he had hired him without an interview or anything else. When Manny finished, Romero guided him over to his office.

"Sit down, mijo, and I will begin." Manny closed the door behind him and took a seat next to his boss. Finally, he'd get a little information about the superhero he'd heard people mention so many times in the past few days. Romero exhaled quietly. "White Pantera was the best superhero Miracle City had ever seen. He was capable of rendering almost any villain helpless; and in less than fifteen minutes!"

"_Almost_ any villain?" Manny interrupted. Romero nodded and folded his arms loosely.

"Even White Pantera had trouble with Sartana of the Dead."

"But El Tigre didn't, and he's never been in a fight in his life," Manny replied. A pause. "Err, I mean, he's probably never been in one before."

"Whether that win was untapped skill or beginner's luck, I don't know." Romero raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you wanted to learn about White Pantera."

"Sorry. Continue." Romero closed his eyes, as if reminiscing.

"White Pantera's super abilities came from his Bronze Boots of Truth. The boots gave him super speed, strength and agility. They also had the ability to make anyone who touches them tell the truth." Manny raised both eyebrows.

"Holy crap. I know I'd hate to come in contact with those things."

"And why would that be?"

"Ehh…Never mind." Romero shook his head, deciding to not get into the boy's personal business.

"Anyway, after years of fighting, White Pantera went into retirement. He still fought evil when needed, but for the most part, he was retired. In fact, Pantera gave up his crime-fighting right before my old classmate Rodolfo Rivera got married." Romero noticed his new employee stiffen and laughed. "Oh, don't worry mijo, Rivera is a pretty common name. In fact, my _brother-in-law's_ name is Rivera! Heck, my son's girlfriend has Rivera for a last name." Manny held in a sigh of relief. _Maybe that's why nobody deduces that I'm Maria Rivera's son…Because it's such a damn common name. Guess only the mayor and city hall know about me, then, or I wouldn't be living where I am now._

"…Hey, Romero."

"Si?"

"Do you think El Tigre has some connection to White Pantera?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just wonderin'."

"Honestly, I don't know." Romero looked at the ceiling in thought. "El Tigre could be related to White Pantera. Actually, seeing as how White Pantera's family before him all had similar names and powers, El Tigre could be Pantera's _son_, for all we know."

"Well, what about White Pantera's real identity? Do you know that?"

"Of course not, no one does," Romero replied.

"Then how come _you_ know so much about him?"

"Research, and the fact that I was in his fan club when he was alive." Manny laughed nervously. _Creepy._

"Anything else about him that you're willing to say?"

"One last thing; not everyone in White Pantera's bloodline was a hero." Manny's eyes widened.

"But didn't Sartana say that El Tigre was like all the other Ri- Uh, all the other members of Pantera's family?" Romero raised his eyebrows.

"How would you know that?"

"I, uh, read it in the paper." Romero half-smiled. _He has as much curiosity as a child._

"I assume she meant the heroes; there were villains in the family too."

"Like who?"

"Well, I can't remember a lot…But I _do_ know that White Pantera's father was a villain. Puma Loco was his name, is I recall correctly. Unlike his son, however, he used a battle suit to fight instead of an Object of Power."

"Wouldn't that cause a lot of arguments?" Manny questioned. "I mean, if you've got a son fighting for good and a father fighting for evil?"

"I would imagine so. How could it not?"

"A miracle?"

"Not likely."

"Oh…" Manny played with his fingers absent-mindedly. "So, how did White Pantera die exactly?" Romero's face fell.

"Apparently an attack on his family, or something along those lines," he answered in a dangerously calm voice. "Which criminal had the guts to, no one can figure out, but rumor has it that the villain wanted to rid Pantera of his only heir." Manny felt himself stiffen once again.

"White Pantera had a son? I didn't know that…"

"Neither did anyone else, until the police went exploring the scene, his supposed home, and found a child's crib in one room." Manny's throat felt dry.

"Where did he live…?"

"The place is abandoned now, but I do remember that the place was called Casa Del Macho." Manny fell off his chair. Romero stood up immediately. "Manny! Are you okay?" He grabbed Manny's hand and pulled the boy to his feet again. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, Romero. Just a bit clumsy." He laughed tensely, trying to cover up. He cleared his throat. "You were saying?" Romero gave Manny a disbelieving look, but continued giving his lesson on the panther-themed hero from the past.

"All there's really left to say is that White Pantera and Puma Loco died trying to save the boy."

"And his mother?"

"Nobody knows who she is. No one's even sure if Pantera's son is even alive." Romero picked up a newspaper copy from his desk. "But looking at the front-page article, I think he is." Manny was silent for moments on end. "Mijo?" Manny shook his head.

"Romero, I have one last question for you." Romero put the paper down and turned to Manny once again.

"Which is?" Manny gulped.

"Let's say, for argument's sake…That El Tigre _is_ the son of White Pantera…And you somehow, I dunno…Met up with him."

"El Tigre?"

"Yeah." Romero half-grinned and folded his arms.

"Okay, I'll play along with this. Let's say I met up with El Tigre." Manny cleared his throat again. He seemed to be doing that a lot.

"…What advice would you give him? About being a hero and stuff like that. I know you probably don't know anything about fighting villains and stuff, but…" Romero exhaled.

"I'd say he's got some mighty big shoes to fill. Or in this case, mighty big _boots_." Manny suppressed a sarcastic laugh at the pun. "El Tigre should try to follow in Pantera's footsteps as much as possible; or, if he wants to, his grandfather's. Whether he wants to be a hero or villain is his decision, but I know White Pantera would want his son to be a hero." Romero chuckled. "And the last thing this city needs is another supervillain wrecking havoc." Manny had to agree with that.

"That's all I wanted to know, Romero," he said. "Thanks."

"Any time. And I'm giving you the rest of the day off. You will work more towards the morning and afternoon; we'll work out your hours and schedule tomorrow." Manny blinked in surprise.

"Really?"

"Sure, why not?" Romero smiled and pointed to Manny's watch. "Besides, don't you have to meet up with Frida soon?"

"Hey, how'd you know-?" Romero laughed and slapped Manny on the back.

"You're forgetting how much you told me about yourself when I met you, chico!" _Damn my big mouth, _Manny muttered secretly. "Plus, she stopped in here one day after school to buy a few bottles of water and told me that she had to go meet you." _Damn her big mouth._

"Y-yeah…Thanks again for the job, Romero."

"Once again, you're welcome." Manny smiled and turned around, exiting through the door. As he left, Romero called to him, "You know, Frida's a very pretty girl, mijo! It wouldn't be nice to keep her waiting!"

"Oh, stuff it, Romero!" Manny rolled his eyes and ran out of the store. _Besides, she likes El Tigre._ But he wasn't focused on that at the moment. No, he had other things going through his mind. Like the reality that he had just discovered. It was like putting two and two together.

_He was the son of White Pantera._

Manny had no more doubts. And he was going to take Romero's advice. He would try to be a hero like his dad. He was going to make the villains of Miracle City wish they had never even thought of becoming evil.

He looked at his watch. Romero was right, it was almost time to meet Frida. However, he had one more place to go… Or rather, El Tigre still had somewhere to go. He ducked in between two houses and spun his belt buckle around.

_**Miracle City Police Station…**_

"_What_ are you looking do to!?" Chief Suarez yelled. Manny, dressed as El Tigre, simply gazed at his claws before looking at the angered police chief again.

"I said that I wanna get a job on the force," he replied calmly. "I saw the offering in the newspaper, and I could really use the money." His smug tone only enraged Suarez even more.

"You cocky, little-! Why should we hire you!? What do you need the money for!?"

"One, you should hire me because I can help bring down any really bad supervillains that _you_ guys wouldn't be able to handle alone. Second, that's personal business." Before Emiliano Suarez could yell any more, an officer in the background spoke up.

"Come on, Emiliano," he said. "We could really use someone like El Tigre. Plus, if he needs the money for something like family business, then that's _another_ reason to hire him." Mr. Suarez turned to his workmates.

"I still don't think we should hire him! White Pantera never asked for money or pay, did he!?"

"White Pantera never worked for us; and we're not talking about him, we're talking about El Tigre. A teenager. If he says he needs the money, he probably does."

"Or he just wants to play us for suckers! What if he's a villain instead and just wants to-!"

"_Emiliano_, that's enough!" There was silence. Manny looked past Chief Suarez and saw a tall man. He looked like he could be in his fifties. The man faced Manny. "El Tigre. I've heard about you, and that you want to join the force."

"Well," Manny replied. "Yeah." Emiliano looked at his coworker in disbelief.

"Chief Delgado, you can't be serious about-!" He shut his mouth when he saw Chief Delgado's stern face. The older man continued to talk with Manny.

"Since you are not an adult, or at least you don't look like one, we cannot have you working full-time. Don't take it personally, it's a safety code that all young officers take." Manny sensed that he was going to get the job after all.

"That's fine with me, I can work part-time, Chief Del-"

"Also, we wouldn't pay you the same we do. The pay comes with experience. Obviously, your fight with Sartana was the only one you've ever been in, therefore you lack familiarity with the criminals of the city." _If you mean it's the first __**super-powered**__ fight I've gotten into, then yes, it is the first,_ Manny answered in his head.

"Like I said, Chief, I'm fine with it. I just really need a job I'd be good at." Chief Delgado sensed an air of arrogance coming from the boy, but chose not to pay too much attention to it for the moment.

"Fine, then. You're hired. Come in tomorrow morning and you'll take an interview. If it goes well, you'll start right after, and work from early day to six at night." Emiliano's jaw dropped.

"Chief Delgado, you-!"

"That is _enough_, Suarez."

"Yes, sir." Manny grinned, but then realized the intertwining schedules he had received.

"Uh, Chief Delgado? I actually can't come in during the mornings. I can't work until later than the afternoon, and then I have to be somewhere every day at two-forty-five for about an hour."

"And why would that be?"

"Hey, I'm a busy guy." Manny wondered _why_ he would even say that. It wouldn't fly with the police. "I just have somewhere else I need to be at during those times."

"Is that on a need-to-know basis?"

"I'd like to keep it that way." Chief Delgado sighed heavily and wondered if it was too late to take the job offering back.

"Fine then. Come do your interview tomorrow, before two-forty-five, and then go wherever you need to. Just report back here when you're done." Yup, it was too late. Manny grinned.

"Alright! Thanks, Chief Delgado!" Manny turned tail and shot through the station's entrance.

He was a happy guy at the moment. He had gotten both jobs, and they seemed like they would be great ones to do as well. On top of that, he had finally learned about White Pantera; hell, he was the guy's son! And it was only late in the afternoon. _Maybe I was right about my life beginning to turn around,_ he reflected. Tomorrow, he would start working and begin to save up.

For now, he had to go meet Frida.

----------

Ja ne!


	6. Chipotle!

Man, I just got the worst haircut of my life…But I guess that isn't an excuse for the delay in updating. I didn't really have much inspiration for this chapter…

**Chapter 6**

**Chipotle!**

Manny laid on his side, fingers tapping the wooden floor of the abandoned Casa del Macho. He looked at his watch. Three-ten. Frida was late. _She doesn't have band practice right now; she comes here after school every day… _If he had known Frida wasn't going to show up on time, he could've taken his police interview before leaving the station. He jumped to his feet and walked around the room, slowly advancing towards the door. _So where could she-?_ The door flung open and hit Manny square in the face.

"_Manny!"_ Frida burst in, again, holding the newspaper underneath one arm. "Did you see the-!?" She paused. Manny wasn't there. Again. She put her hands on her hips. "Honestly! Every time I have something to tell him, he's not here!"

"I'm…here…" a winded voice breathed out. Frida turned her body at an angle.

"Manny?"

"…Present…" Frida blinked twice, realizing that the door was talking to her.

"_Crap_!" She grabbed the door and threw it back as hard as she could. Manny peeled himself off the wall and shook his head.

"I can _breathe_ again…!" He rubbed his nose. "But _man_, that hurt!" Frida clutched his wrist and removed his hand from his face.

"Uh…Whoops."

"What, 'whoops'?"

"I, uh, kinda gave you a…" Manny touched his upper lip and felt something warm and sticky. He gave her a half-hearted grin.

"Yes, my nose thanks you for making it bleed." Frida rolled her eyes.

"Oh, just come here…" She pulled him away from the wall and made him sit cross-legged. She sat down across from him and slid her backpack down her arm. "I should really start keeping this in my backpack _all_ the time," she murmured to herself, pulling out her makeshift medical kit again.

"Why do you even have that _with_ you?" Manny asked skeptically. "Were you _planning_ on hurting me anyway?"

"No, I just had a feeling that you had gotten hurt again."

"_You're_ the one who hit me."

"I didn't say I knew _what_ or _who_ would injure you." She folded a tissue a few times and gave it to him. "Just keep that on your nose for now."

"Fine." Manny took it from her. "Why were you just spazzing out a few moments ago, anyway?"

"For two reasons." She picked the newspaper up off the ground and showed him the front page, pointing to the picture. "One, did you _not_ see this?" Manny stared at the page. _Oh._ It was the picture of him, El Tigre, rescuing Frida. He had read that article earlier in the day!

"The picture? Saw it before. That doesn't explain why you came here so late, though." Frida put the paper down.

"My friends were wondering what it was like meeting El Tigre," she explained. "Those stupid girls don't know the meaning of _shut up_." Manny stopped pressing the tissue to his nose for a moment and rested his head on the palm of his hand.

"What exactly did you tell them?"

"What happened, duh. I don't make crap up like those girly-girls."

"So you basically told them that El Tigre came, rescued you, and then Sartana knocked you out?"

"How'd you know?"

"Isn't that what happened?"

"Yeah, but-"

"_Anyway_…" Manny laughed nervously. He really didn't want to get into how he knew what went on in the battle when he _supposedly_ wasn't there. "What was the other reason you were having a spazz attack?" Frida frowned and folded her arms.

"That wasn't a spazz attack, _that_ was me running away. Sergio and Diego cornered me and _both_ of them tried to ask me out. _Again_. I _swear_, that's the…" Frida paused to count on her fingers. "Fourth time they've done that this month. They followed me around _all_ last period and they actually tailed me while I was walking here. Man, why did those guys have to skip grades?" Manny coughed and muttered something about crazy, lovesick stalkers under his breath. "Luckily, they got into a fist fight and didn't notice me running here." Manny burst out laughing.

"Oh- My- God!" he exclaimed in between laughs. "Those two _geeks_ got into a _fist fight_!? Last time they did that, _I_ was in their class!" Frida pushed him over.

"Okay, I admit that I was laughing too, but those two practically shadow me _day and night_! It's not funny!" Manny stopped laughing and raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"_Night_?"

"Don't. Even. _Ask_." They shared a mutual shudder. Manny sat up.

"Want me to knock some sense into 'em?" He snorted. "Better yet, why don't you get your boyfriend _El Tigre_ to teach 'em a lesson?" Frida pushed him down again, harder this time.

"Stop acting so jealous." Manny decided to keep his mouth shut and pout instead. "Plus, even if I were to sink that low, I dunno where I'd find him." Manny gave a sarcastic chuckle.

"Gee, then why don't you just get yourself _captured_ again?" he teased.

"Great idea!" Manny fell over again. Frida raised an eyebrow. "I'm _joking_, Manny…"

"Well, don't joke like _that_!" He shook his head. "Anyway, whatcha' got for me today?"

"Physics."

"Damn."

_**Chipotle Residence…**_

Diego trudged through the doorway of his home, dragging his heels. "Father, I am home." Now that he was home, there was no need to use his secret identity anymore. His holographic glasses retracted, revealing his technologically-advanced right eye. His left arm withdrew and replaced itself with a much larger, robotic limb. He grabbed his white lab coat from its hanger and slipped it on. He already knew that his father was working in the basement, so he headed down there himself. "I realize I am late, but I _do_ have an explanation as to why-"

"You got into a fight, yes?" Diego jumped the last few stairs to the basement.

"Yes. But how did you-?"

"You may disguise your eye, but it is still there, my son," Dr. Chipotle answered, turning away from his current project. "I can use it to see what you are doing at any point in the day."

"Hey, that's a violation of my privacy!" Diego fumed. He folded his arms and tried to calm down. "But that _is_ a good way to spy…"

"Heh." Dr. Chipotle reached behind him with his mechanized arm, an exact copy of his son's, and handed a remote control to Diego. "I want you to take it for a test drive."

"Take _what_ for a test drive?"

"Push the green button." Diego shrugged and did as he was told. A large, steel door opened up behind the two Chipotle men. Diego turned around cautiously, turning his head upward. He found himself looking at his father's latest invention…His latest, tall, slightly revolting invention. There were a few moments of speechlessness from the thirteen-year-old genius. Slowly, but surely, a malicious grin spread across his face.

"Oh, I'm gonna have _fun_ with _this_…" He screeched with wicked laughter. Dr. Chipotle grabbed the remote, much to his son's disappointment.

"Not before you do your homework."

"Yes, father."

_**Hours later…**_

Manny fell asleep easily that night. By the time Frida had left, he had been bored out of his mind. Physics was even duller than _math_; by the time _that_ subject was done, Manny felt drained of all his energy. He vowed that, next time Frida brought her physics book over, he would go graffiti Leone High School's cafeteria.

It was about one in the morning when a deafening roar-like sound pierced the sky. Manny's caramel eyes slowly blinked open. "Just when I was having an awesome dream…What is it at _this_ hour?" The roar came once again. This time, Manny jumped to his feet and ran to the window. He looked left and right down the street, and saw nothing…Until he looked up. He saw a large silhouette of an object in the next neighborhood over. "What…is _that_?" _Whatever it is, I'd better check it out._ Manny twirled his belt buckle and jumped out the window as soon as his transformation to El Tigre was completed.

The night air was surprisingly frigid. Manny didn't know how he was keeping warm, especially when he was running against the wind, but he wasn't complaining. He turned down the street parallel to his own, careful as to not crash into anything. He skidded to a halt with his heels again, obviously still working on stopping. Manny paused for a few moments to catch his breath, and then realized something _very_ bizarre: The giant shape was moving, and leaving behind a trail of something that strangely resembled slime. His mouth hung open slightly.

"_What_ the _hell_ is _that_?" Manny suddenly felt something blocking the moonlight from his face. He looked up slowly, and saw a fist heading straight for him. His ears flattened. "Oh, _shi_-!" Manny flew back into the house behind him, leaving a crater from the collision. He face-planted to the ground again, letting himself lay there instead of getting up. _I think my bones are crushed… That hit was __**definitely**__ worse than Sartana's._ An evil, somewhat childish, laugh penetrated the skies. Manny lifted his head, tiger ears flicking at the sound.

"So, you are the El Tigre hero that I've heard about?" the voice questioned, almost as if mocking him. Manny shook his head and stood up slowly, still dizzy from the blow he had received earlier.

"Uh, yeah…? And who's asking?" Once his vision cleared, Manny could see the figure standing in front of him, looking quite proud of himself. He blinked. "You're…"

"Yes, I am _Dr. Chipotle Junior_! Evil scientist and the son of-!"

"A kid…"

"Eh?"

"Dude, you're _what_, _eleven_?"

"I'm _thirteen_!"

"Not much of a difference…"

"_Whatever!"_ Diego's metal hand retracted, and a remote control popped out. (A/N: Yes, I'm calling him Diego. Typing out Dr. Chipotle Jr. all the time would be a pain in the ass. So I'm going to do what I do with Manny and only use his supervillain name if his name is being spoken) "You're father, the White Pantera, put my father in jail many times when he was alive!" Manny raised an eyebrow. _And this is supposed to mean __**what**__ to me?_ "From this point on, I vow to take revenge on you for your father's actions!" Manny smacked his forehead. _Oh, __**great**__…_

"What did _I_ ever do to _you_?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, if it's between our _dads_, why are _you_ trying to get revenge on _me_?"

"Because-! Well-! That's just how the supervillain code works!"

"Seems _stupid_ to me."

"Be silent, _swine_! And witness your doom!" Diego pushed a button on his control. The ground shook. Manny looked upwards again, and this time, saw what had punched him earlier…

A giant, robot blob.

Manny stared flatly. An _oversized ball of __**goo**_ had knocked him into the wall? He pointed at it and gave Diego a half-lidded stare. "A ball of _slime_ is my doom? Are you sure you're _any_ kind of scientist, Dr. Chili Pepper?"

"_Chipotle!"_ Diego screeched. God, why did _everyone_ get his last name wrong!? "I shall now show you the true power of-! Eh?" A beeping sound came from his pocket. Manny continued his apathetic stare. _Third time he's said 'eh'… For a so-called scientist, this kid doesn't have an extensive vocabulary…_ Diego pushed a button on the controller and a holographic image of his father appeared.

"Junior! Get back home now!"

"But Father-! I was about to engage in battle with El Tigre!" Dr. Chipotle turned his body one-hundred-eighty degrees and landed his eyes on the teen dressed up like a tiger.

"Ah yes, the son of my enemy. You can be sure that you'll be seeing me in the future." Before Manny could ask about the hidden meaning behind those words, the older scientist turned back to his son. "You come home this _instant_!"

"But I already _did_ my homework and-!"

"This isn't about your _chores_! The guacamole monster is still _unstable_! Why you no _tell_ me when you taking it out!? The monster has yet to go through stabilization!"

"Is _that_ what that thing is made of?" Manny interrupted. "Why make a monster out of _food_?" He was ignored. Diego took another look at his father's invention. Come to think of it, wasn't it supposed to be standing up instead of crawling around on the ground?

"Fine, I will come home." The hologram of Dr. Chipotle disappeared. Diego sighed and put the remote away. "It would seem that I will have to withdraw from fighting today, El Tigre." Manny had so many questions that he dared not even ask. "How about we carry on our fight tomorrow? Same time?" Manny folded his arms. _Any_ time would be good to battle for him; why wait until _night_? He took another gander at Diego and remembered that he was thirteen. He'd have to go to school during the _day_.

"Alright, fine. I'll meet you back here tomorrow night, Chimpanzee."

"_Chipotle!"_

"Whatever. Just go home to your _daddy_." Manny snickered. Diego fumed.

"Oh, I'll be going _home_, alright. Just not without picking a special _something_ up!" Diego made a movement with his hand, giving a signal to his guacamole monster. It, somehow, nodded and dove into a nearby manhole. Manny curled his fists.

"Hey, what do you think you're _doing_, brat!?" Diego jumped in after his monster, not responding to the question. Manny jumped over to the sewer entrance and ducked his head down inside, holding his breath. He looked down, right and left in the sewer. Nothing. Even with his enhanced sight, he couldn't spot Diego or the monster. He lifted his head out of the drain and took many deep breaths. He coughed.

"Oh man, if that supposed _scientist_ is down there, there's no _way_ he's gonna survive the smell…" Manny stood up, mentally cursing himself. He had let them get away. _Hey, it's not my fault __**entirely**__… I'm just tired…And that crash took a bit out of my reflexes and sight…Plus, I was already half-dead from physics…_ He decided to stop finding faults in everything else and head home.

Manny's tail swished back and forth lethargically as he trudged back to Casa del Macho. He was still wondering what Dr. Chipotle Junior had to get before going back to his father. He had mentioned it was something special, but he couldn't think of what the pint-sized villain would want. Normally he would put at least a bit more thought into it, but he just wasn't in the mood to. He was tired, he was weary from the impact, and he knew he was going to be beyond sore in the morning.

Hopefully he would be recharged enough by tomorrow night.

-----------------

Heh. Cookies to anyone who can guess what's gonna happen in the next chapter.


	7. New Predicament

I'm so sorry this is so late; I've been really wrapped up in designing a videogame with my online friend! (She's an awesome friend =D)

**Chapter 7**

**New Predicament**

"So basically, you'll be working from nine in the morning until two in the afternoon."

"And I'll get a twenty-minute break at twelve-ten, right?"

"Exactly." Romero marked down something on a piece of paper. "Those hours apply to Monday through Friday. Saturday, you come in at ten and work 'till four-thirty; your break then will be at twelve-forty." Manny nodded.

"Same amount of time?"

"Yes, twenty minutes. Sunday is your day off." Romero looked up and peered at the boy sitting across from him. "I still don't get why you're working two jobs, chico; it's not good for a kid your age to have no free time."

"I have free time-"

"And I don't mean your one or two hours studying with Frida." Manny folded his arms.

"Well, what difference does it make?" he protested. "It's not like I have other things to do." _Besides, maybe, capturing criminals as El Tigre._ "I don't go to school, so I don't have homework; I don't have money, I can't spend it. I-"

"I realize what you're saying, Manny," Romero interrupted. He got up, grabbing the paper. "But if I think you're working too much, I'm giving you a mandatory day off, si?" He messed up Manny's hair as if he were still a kid.

"Fine, fine." Romero tossed him a white apron. Manny grabbed it in midair. _Must be my uniform, or something,_ he contemplated.

"I also don't understand why you must keep your other job secret, mijo," Romero said, marking one last thing down on the paper. "I am your friend, you know. You can tell me." Manny stood up and removed his jacket.

"I know, Romero," he replied, slipping the apron on over his head. "If it were that easy, I would tell you. But I just can't. At least, not yet." Romero was silent. A sigh was heard.

"Alright, I won't intrude in your personal business." Manny breathed a quiet sigh of relief and turned to his boss.

"Got anything for me to do now?"

"Of course I do!" Romero led Manny out of his office and closed the door behind him. He guided the teen over to a door at the other end of the area. "That's the entrance to the loading docks. There should be a few crates of different fruits and vegetables. I want you to unload those from their truck and bring them in here."

"By myself?"

"They're not that heavy, chico." Romero reached onto his belt and grabbed a key. Manny watched him as he unlocked the door and opened it. "After that, open up one or two of the crates and bring each crop to its right aisle. If you need any help, Marcus, one of my other employees, is the right one to ask." Manny nodded and cracked his knuckles.

"I got this, Romero." Romero grinned.

"I'll leave you to it, then. Let me know when you're done!" He slipped a small piece of inclined wood under the door, used as a stopper, and waved his newest worker off. Manny noticed the truck a few yards away.

"Okay, let's see what I've gotta work with…" He sprinted to the truck and peered inside. He groaned. Apparently _Romero's_ definition of a _few_ crates was _his_ definition of _fifteen_. "Better get started…" He clutched the nearest crate in his grasp and tried to lift it. It was surprisingly difficult to haul up. _And __**apparently**__ his definition of __**not that heavy**__ is __**my**__ definition of __**pretty damn heavy**__. Well, no use complaining._ Manny heaved it up and started carrying it to the store.

_**An hour later…**_

_THUD._

Manny dropped the crate next to the others in his pile. He wiped the sweat his brow. That made…_five_. He folded his arms. The crates were heavy by _themselves_, but carrying them in eighty-something-degree temperature was definitely _not_ a plus. He was also at a disadvantage since he was still sore from the hit he took the night before. "There's _gotta_ be an easier way to do this…" _Being __**stronger**__ would be nice._ Manny paused. This lasted a few seconds. He smacked his forehead. "Oh, _duh_."

---

Using his alter ego's superior strength and speed levels, it was only a matter of minutes before Manny was finishing up the last of the crates. When the last box made it into the store, Manny didn't change back. He looked at his hand, and then at the crates, a smile forming on his face. (A/N: Gay sounding rhyme alert…) "I won't change back _just_ yet…" With those words said, his claws unsheathed, and he drove them under a crate's cover. He didn't have to put much effort into ripping the top clean off. "Easy." He did the same with the other fourteen boxes. _Now, are there any __**other**__ jobs I can do with El Tigre's power?_ Manny took a look at all the produce he still had to bring back to their proper places. _I'd say yes._ Just as he was about to grab an armful of fruit and speed towards the aisle, he heard footsteps closing in.

"Manny, are you still unloading those crates?" Romero's voice came. Many froze and instantly, almost instinctively, spun his buckle and returned to normal. Right then, Romero entered the area. Manny scratched behind his head and laughed nervously.

"I think I'm okay," he answered. "I just need to bring the stuff back to the aisles." Romero looked between the opened crates and his employee.

"You work fast, mijo." He placed his hand on Manny's shoulder. "And if you can remove those tops without using anything or anyone to help, I think I underestimated your strength." Manny forced a smile. _Does using my powers count as some sort of cheating? Cause this feels like false praise._ "Keep up the good work, Manny." Romero gave him a gentle smile, and then turned to leave. Before he totally left Manny's sight, he called, "By the way, Orlando is currently sprinkling the produce with the hose; if you need any help at all, he's there at the moment." Manny folded his arms and looked at the food again. If someone was in the aisle at the moment, he couldn't use his superpowers to rush through his work. _Damn._ He stretched his arms out, cracking his bones a bit, picked up an armful of fruit and started to haul it to its proper spot.

---

It was eleven-fifty. Manny had about one-fourth of the fruits and vegetables left to take back to the aisle. By now he was sure that the black-and-blues he had received from the previous night's conflict had something to do with his slow movement. Orlando paused in his 'washing of the fruits and veggies', as he called it, to glance at his new workmate. Manny was currently putting a few tomatoes near the lettuce. Orlando turned the hose off.

"You know, you're working awfully slowly," he stated. "You shouldn't be _that_ worn out from carrying those boxes."

"Easy for _you_ to say," Manny grumbled. "_You're_ not the one who unloaded them." He knew Orlando meant well, unlike some other employees he had met, but sometimes he was just so…Well, there were a bunch of words to describe him; such as…

_Dense._

_Blunt._

And _most_ of all…

_Clueless._

Orlando was two years older than Manny, but still a senior in high school (On account that he got held back one year). No prizes for guessing why. "Well, if Romero hired you without any official interview, you're probably a pretty good worker," Orlando continued. Before Manny could comment on that, loud sirens were heard coming from outside the store. Manny turned his head at an angle, looking through the glass front doors of the shop, and saw two police cars chasing, what seemed to be, a giant, hairy robber. The teen bit his lip, as if deciding what to do. It didn't take him long. He removed the apron he was wearing and headed towards the store's entrance.

"Orlando! If Señor Romero asks where I am, tell him I'm taking my break early!" Before Orlando could stage a protest, Manny had run out the door.

"Aye… I'll cover for him, but he's gonna get in trouble…" Orlando muttered.

---

"Say it!"

"No way, Tigre!" Manny made his chain tighter.

"Say it, _damn_ it!"

"Awright, awright, uncle, man!"

Manny grinned in victory. Sure, he was a hero, but he never got tired of playing the 'Say Uncle' game with anyone who was willing; and El Oso was _more_ than willing to play. "_That's_ more like it." Manny released his tightened grip. El Oso was able to breathe again.

"Yo, man, you didn't have to almost choke me!" he snapped. Manny gave the bear-man a shrug.

"You didn't say uncle."

"You crazy, man."

"That doesn't hurt coming from someone who tried to rob a bank just now." Manny looked out of the corner of his eye, at Chief Suarez and the two men with him. "You wanna cuff him _before_ I let go?" The two bumbling cops rushed forward at the teen's words, one of them grabbing El Oso's giant wrists while the other cuffed him. Manny withdrew his grappling claw, moving it around to make sure it was completely on.

"I'll get you, man!" El Oso barked as the two officers somehow managed to squeeze him into one of the police cars. Manny waved him off with a smug grin on his face. _Doubt it_. Chief Suarez walked up to Manny and grabbed his shoulder. He turned him around harshly.

"Tigre." Manny watched him remove his hand. He could tell that the chief wasn't in a good mood.

"Chief Suarez." He cleared his throat, trying not to sound nervous. "Is there a problem?"

"I thought you weren't going to be around until later."

"Well, I had a few minutes to spare." Emiliano glared at the boy with his one good eye. There was a pause between the two.

"I will leave you to your business, Tigre. Just stay out of our way until you're actually working with us." I think it's my business to catch any criminals you can't, chief. Manny watched the chief storm past him and to his car. He heard a door slam. Seconds later, the police car drove up to him, the window down. Manny blinked as Chief Suarez leaned out the window, apparently looking to ask him something. "By the way, Tigre…You haven't seen Frida, have you?" Manny was instantly alert.

"Frida?"

"My daughter."

"She's not in school?" Emiliano shook his head.

"I'm not sure; she wasn't in her room this morning." Chief Suarez scowled as he finished talking. "What am I asking you for, you don't know." He ducked back into his car and drove off.

Manny stood there for a few minutes, taking in the new information. He didn't want to believe Frida was missing, but he had a sinking feeling that she had been. When he told her she should get captured again, he hadn't meant it literally! Talk about getting jinxed.

Well, nothing else to do but investigate.

_**Leone High School…**_

Manny scaled the outside wall of the school with his claws, still searching for the principal's office from the outside; he had never actually gone to Leone High, so that made it all the more difficult. He silently prayed that no one saw him climbing the school's wall.

Eight minutes passed before Manny came to a double window on the third floor. He peered through the glass, eyes scanning the empty room. A nameplate was on the desk, only it was facing the front of the office, away from him. _Dammit._ He looked towards the door and slowly deciphered the backwards text that was printed on it.

_Joseph Tonino_

_Principal_

Manny grinned. _Bingo!_ He slid one of his claws under the window, unlocked it from the outside, and opened it up cautiously, jumping into the room. The last thing he needed was to get caught. It wasn't likely that he would get into any kind of trouble, especially since he didn't even go to the school and he wasn't doing anything bad, but it never hurt to be careful. He began to rummage through the papers on the desk, looking around for the attendance records.

There were a lot of papers, folders and drawers to check for the book, but luckily for Manny, he had the speed to check through everything lightning-fast…Plus the fact that almost all the drawers were locked and the only one that was open contained a photo album titled _Family Summer Bathing Suit Contest '08_ that he dared not look at for his own mental safety. He skimmed through the folders on the desk, speed-reading the names. Test scores, class schedules, salary lists… Manny uncovered a thin, green notebook under the rest of the piles that read Attendance Records. He smiled.

Manny flipped open the book to today's date and read the list of names of the people who were absent.

_Fernandez, Luis_

_Ramos, Masiela_

_Sanchez, Maurice_

_Suarez, Frida_

_Torres, Gabriella_

Manny could've cared less about the other names. He focused only on the one named he cared about. So she didn't come to school. Now he was worried. He put the book back on the desk slowly. _Where could she be? Frida usually never skips unless it's for a concert…_ And if she wasn't even in her bedroom in the morning, like Chief Suarez had said, there was definitely something wrong. And then he remembered.

"_Oh, I'll be going home, alright. Just not without picking a special something up!"_

Manny jumped out the window and swung down using his claws.

_**A few blocks away…**_

Manny looked at the ground continuously, looking for any trace of evidence. _I swear, if that Dr. Chimichonga, or whatever his name is, really took her, I'm going to hunt him down __**personally**__._ It didn't occur to him that he would be seeing the small scientist that night, therefore having no reason to hunt him down. _I'm not even sure if that guy __**has**__ a reason to take her, but…_

Manny had reached Frida's house, and had found nothing. The streets were clean, with no sign of guacamole; he thought that monster was _sure_ to follow its master around. He put both his hands on his waist and sighed. "Fruitless effort…" he muttered to himself. "Better keep looking…" He turned around and started heading towards the street parallel to his current one…Only to find that his boot made a _squish_ when he stepped forward. Manny looked down, green eyes narrowing dangerously.

Guacamole was smeared around the edge of the manhole.

Manny didn't make an attempt to stop the growl that emitted from his throat.

---

Before you even make assumptions, let me tell you one thing; Frida was not kidnapped like you think she was… I think I'll keep you guessing at that.

I want to reach forty-two reviews in order for me to update. (Yes, I'm now setting goals)


	8. Close Calls

Okay, this is supposed to be a fanfic with an ANIME twist. So from now on, I'll probably be using anime terms… (EX: sweatdrop, anime mark) It also makes it easier on me; I don't have to spend time thinking of things to write down.

Man, I've been trying to work on four fanfics at once, I procrastinated, but now that it's summer vacation… No more finals, tests, essays or distractions! I can update more often now! Now, enjoy a nice, long, juicy chapter, and sip some lemonade as you read!

…Okay, maybe not…

And this would've been done sooner, but I got dragged to SEVEN FUCKING STATES the past MONTH! _HELL_ _ON_ _**EARTH**_!!!!

**Chapter 8**

**Close Calls**

Manny waved his hand in front of the motion sensor, watching as the doors to Angelic Mercado slid open. He was actually _afraid_ of going into the store at the moment… He knew Romero was an even-tempered man, but he had been gone for _more_ than a few _minutes_. _Hours_ was more like it. He had been searching for Frida for maybe three hours before he remembered his job. He _also_ forgot to attend the interview he had with the police. When he remembered both those things, he denounced himself as royally screwed. Manny sighed and took one step into the store, doors closing behind him.

"_Manuel Rivera, what is going on here!?"_ Manny winced at the yell. Romero suddenly appeared in front of him, arms folded. He did not look happy; in fact, he looked downright enraged, which was a very rare emotion for him to show. He was normally a very level-headed man. Once more, he had called him _Manuel_. _That_ was a bad sign. _Well, there goes my job._ "I want an explanation for your skipping out on work _now_!" Manny caught sight of Orlando in the background, trying very hard to make 'I'm sorry' gestures with his hands. The dark-skinned Rivera boy bit the inside of his cheek and turned back to his angry boss. _"Well?"_

"I…I…" Manny sighed. "I can't. I'm _sorry_, Romero." Romero sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "If it was easy to explain, I _would_ tell you, but-"

"Mijo." Manny shut his mouth. "I gave you the job, thinking you would be a hard worker. You seemed to be doing fine, but then you skipped out on work. It wasn't even time for your break." _I wasn't skipping out, I was searching for a friend,_ Manny replied mentally. Oh, if only Romero knew of his alter ego, this would be so much easier on him! "I hate to tell you, Manny, but I'm beginning to regret hiring you." Manny felt himself tighten up at this.

"I'm really, really sorry, Romero!" he tried to apologize again. "I just had something extremely important to do!"

"And that would be?"

"Searching for Frida!" Manny couldn't stop the words from coming out. He cursed himself silently. There was a pause. Romero raised an eyebrow.

"Looking for a friend?" The way he said it made Manny realize that the older man thought he was searching for her just to hang out with her.

"Chief Suarez told me that she went missing last night. Frida's my closest friend, Romero. If I didn't look for her, I could never live with the guilt of abandoning my friend." Those were accurate words. There was another break in the conversation, this time longer and much more silent, since even Orlando had stopped to listen. Romero folded his arms, exhaling quietly.

"Mijo, I'm giving you _one_ _more_ chance. One more, but _that's_ it. If you cut work again, I'm going to have to let you go." Manny looked up in surprise.

"You're not firing me, Romero?"

"I still have faith that you can be a good hand to have around, chico." Romero put his hand on the boy's shoulder and gave a friendly wink. "And you went looking for your missing girlfriend; that's one of the only things I would've let you pass with." Manny grinned.

"So, want me to get to work again?"

"That would be nice." Romero looked over his shoulder briefly. "Your uniform is hanging on the rack in my office."

"Thanks!" Manny took off towards the office, speed-walking. He kept thinking about how overly kind Romero had been to him, replaying the conversation quickly over and over again in his head. Even as he retrieved his apron, which he found slightly girlish to say, he was still thinking about Romero's generosity. And then his mind registered the last part of the discussion…

"_Romero, she is NOT. MY. __**GIRLFRIEND**__!!!"_

Romero's hearty laughter could be heard even outside the store.

_**6:54 P.M…**_

Manny removed his uniform, which he still thought made him look girly, and hung it on a rack. Romero promised to let him go this time, just so long as he worked the extra hours tomorrow. Of course, working till almost seven today pretty much guaranteed him less time.

He sighed heavily. Unfortunately, deciding to be nice made him completely miss his police interview. _Great._ He'd have to go in tomorrow with some type of excuse. Family matters? An injury of some sort? He could always say that his bones were sore, but then he'd have to explain _why_.

Ah, well. He'd think about it tomorrow. Right now, it was time for the tiger to hunt down his prey.

_**Miracle City's Center…**_

Manny stood on the edge of the Miracle City Volcano, now dressed as El Tigre, scanning the city with his narrowed eyes. He wasn't sure how long he had been up there, but it still wasn't enough time to him. _**Dammit!**__ Frida could be in real trouble, and I'm standing here like an idiot, doing __**nothing!**__ God, why couldn't you have blessed me with better intuition for these things?_ He shook his head. "Now, if I were a crazed, maniacal thirteen-year-old with a name fetish, where would I be hiding out…?" And then, Manny caught sight of _the_ most obvious hint he could've asked for…

A building with a giant neon sign spelling out _Chipotle's Lab/ No Visitors_.

Manny stared for a moment. "…That could work!" (A/N: No, seriously; in one episode, I saw a sign that said something like that on Chipotle's hideout)

_**Diego's Lab…**_

Frida twirled a piece of hair around her finger, obviously bored out of her mind. "_This_ is _just great_…" she muttered. She paced around the room for the millionth time, as if waiting for something to come along and entertain her. _I can't believe it… I can't believe he would do that… I thought he was a good guy…_

_**Flashback…**_

_Frida lied in her bed, awake, and by no means tired. She didn't know why, but it was impossible for her to get sleep that night. It definitely wasn't __**stress**__; she was a laid back girl. _If I knew what it _was_, I could probably get to sleep,_ she thought sarcastically. She turned onto her side out of boredom and stared out her window. The almost full moon illuminated the sky, the dark city. And then, while looking at the buildings across the street, she caught sight of a figure, cloaked in shadows, hopping over rooftops. _

_Frida sat up in her bed, startled at the sight. _What the hell was that!?_ As if answering, the figure appeared once again, only this time, it was at her window. Frida held her breath and tried to get a good look at the figure. _What… Who…?_ She didn't know who it was at first glance, but then she caught sight of something very peculiar: a tail, swishing between the person's legs. Frida furrowed her brows and hopped out of bed, sliding her feet into her slippers. _Is that…?_ Frida cautiously walked to her open window and stared up. As she thought. Cat ears; more specifically, tiger ears. _

"_El-"A hand covering her mouth cut her off. "Mmrff!!" Frida felt her eyelids getting heavy. _What…?_ She couldn't think straight; she blacked out._

_**End Flashback**_

Frida ran her hand through her bangs and looked to the right, to the wall. _Next thing I knew, I woke up in that stupid cell… _She smirked cockily and looked at her wrists. _Lucky for me, I never take my bracelets off. Turns out, they're great lock picks. _Her smirk turned into a scowl when she noticed her clothes. _Now if only I wasn't in my pajamas…_ But she knew there were more important things to worry about than her appearance. She had to get out of there, and fast. She had been down there for at least a day, and she hadn't even seen anybody! _Wish I could see that idiot, I'd sock him __**so**__ hard-!_

Fortunately for Frida, her wish came true. There was a sound of a heavy door opening and closing, and then the echoes of footsteps. Frida took a few steps backwards. The person came into view within seconds. Frida practically snarled when she saw him. She grabbed something off the table behind her and gripped it tightly.

"_Tigre!"_ She threw the object at the El Tigre look-alike as hard as she could, making her frustration plain to see. El Tigre wasn't fazed; he reached out and grabbed the soaring object, which was something like a pocket-sized robot, and crushed it in his clawed hand. Frida snapped her fingers. "Tch." The sound of evil, childish laughter came. A second person, looking much younger, came down from the stairway. Frida blinked. He looked familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it…

"I am Dr. Chipotle Jr. How are you enjoying your stay, bonita?" he asked. Frida folded her arms. Oh _great, another stalker._

"My _stay_?" she repeated angrily. "I'm not 'staying' here, El Tigre knocked me out and brought me here!" Diego laughed again.

"What a sense of humor you have there!" he mocked. This time, Frida did snarl. She walked up to Diego, grabbed his shirt collar and held a fist to his face.

"Tell me what's going on here, or I'll make _sure_ you have to replace your _other_ eye as well!" There was a chilling promise in her voice. Diego was decidedly nervous, but tried not to let it show.

"I like your spirit," he said. An anime mark appeared on Frida's head. (A/N: First anime reference; if you don't like it, go read another fanfic) She raised her fist higher.

"You're one comment away from losing your other arm as well." Diego snickered and turned his head towards the sixteen-year-old next to him.

"The El Tigre standing here isn't the real one; he's a cloned copy," he started. Frida lowered her fist and looked at 'El Tigre'. He had blank, emerald eyes and a stoical air to him. Not the Tigre she remembered.

"Cloned copy?" she repeated, turning her gaze back to the scientist. "What the heck is that?"

"Exactly that; this El Tigre is an exact replica of the original, only instead of human, he's made out of a special compound that I created myself. The DNA I used was taken from this hair." Diego reached into his labcoat's pocket and pulled out a chocolate-brown strand of hair. With the length of it, it could be easily mistaken for a girl's. "I received it from my guacamole monster; when he delivered that nasty punch to El Tigre, he unknowingly took a hair from him. I never actually wanted to _stabilize_ that pile of green sludge! Well, I do, but _this_ guy was first priority." Frida raised a confused eyebrow.

"I thought El Tigre's hair was white."

"The white hair is his mask. For a pretty girl, you're not very bright." That did it. _WHAM!_ True to her word, Frida punched Diego right in the eye and dropped him to the ground. He howled in pain and covered his eye.

"Why-! Why you-!" he stuttered. Frida huffed and ran past Diego as quickly as she could.

"Brighter than _you_! You actually left the door open!" Diego continued to yowl. He pointed up.

"El Tigre! Go get her back!" Frida heard him. _Oh, crap._ If that thing really was a carbon copy of the real El Tigre, he had his speed, strength and everything. She had to get away as quickly as she could. She jumped the last stair and slammed the door behind her, putting the lock back on before running any further.

No sooner had she come upstairs, Frida found herself in the main room of the building. She grinned when she saw, what she thought was, the front door of the building. _Take __**that**__, you little punk!_ She ran to the door, grabbed the handles and whipped the doors open… Only to find Manny standing there already.

Frida went by her first instinct and screeched, punching Manny in the gut. He groaned and fell to his knees. _Damn, she has a strong right hook!_ "Stay away, ya clone freak!" Manny looked up at her defiant stance, confused.

"Clone? What are you _talking_ about?"

"Don't give me that!" Manny stood up slowly, starting to get over the pain.

"I don't know where you're getting the clone story from, but I'm the real El Tigre, okay?" Frida narrowed her eyes and drew her fist back, as if she was ready to throw another hit.

"Prove it." Manny blinked.

"And how exactly would I do that?" Before the blue-haired girl could answer, the mixed sounds of an explosion and giant footsteps came into hearing range. Frida turned to Manny and grabbed his wrist.

"By getting me out of here. _Run!_" She sped off, dragging Manny with her. Manny picked up the pace and ran alongside her.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be getting you out of here! Not the other way around!" Manny tore his wrist away and picked Frida up bridal-style. He looked back over his shoulder and immediately knew what Frida meant by 'clone'.

There was an exact copy of himself chasing the two. Manny looked forward again. "Shit!" He skidded to a halt and turned around, leaped into the air and landed on a mountain ledge, located behind the house. He set Frida down gently. "You, stay here. I'll go take care of that replica." Frida tried to protest, but Manny was off before she could even attempt it. She cupped her hands around her mouth.

"Oh, and I'm just supposed to _sit_ here!? _Great idea!_" She folded her arms tightly.

_**Below…**_

"What. The hell." Manny stared at the mirror image of himself. Even their stances were the same. The only difference was the attitude. Manny snorted. "Well, it may be a clone, but it's a good-looking clone."

"You like?" a nasally voice came. Manny blanched. _Oh, God._ He smacked his forehead.

"Not you again…" he muttered as Diego came into view. "Don't you have anything better to do than kidnap innocent people and clone me, Dr. Cheese-Brain?"

"_CHI-POT-LE!"_ Diego seethed. "El Tigre! Take him down!" Manny barely had time to dodge as his look-alike shot his grappling claw at him. Manny evaded it by doing a backflip.

"Whoa! Close call!" Manny landed on his feet again. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to hurt me!" Diego growled.

"I told you to get him!" (A/N: From now on, I'm calling the clone Tigre… For lack of better idea) Tigre practically launched himself onto Manny and pinned him down by the neck. Manny struggled to get out of the iron grip. Tigre raised his other hand in a fist, getting ready to sock the teen. Manny kicked Tigre in the gut; but instead of sending Tigre flying, his foot went through him instead. Manny made a disgusted face.

"What the hell _is_ this!?" Diego chuckled.

"My clones are made of a substance that regenerates itself; my own creation, thank you very much." Manny cringed at the green substance that was now on his boot. He stared at Diego flatly.

"Let me guess; some type of gay guacamole substance, right?"

"It's not gay!"

"Pffth. Whatever. If this guy's only guacamole…" Manny grabbed Tigre's arm with both hands and pulled in different directions. His arm tore apart, giving Manny the chance to get out of range. Just as he was a few yards away, Manny felt claws wrap around his throat and pull him back. Tigre slammed Manny into a tree, causing the trunk to break. Tigre's hand retracted. Manny grunted and tried to sit up. _Okay, I **know** I'll be feeling that in the morning._ Diego's raucous laughter filled the air.

"Unlike my clone, you cannot regenerate! If you get hurt, you actually _do_ get hurt!" he mocked. Manny snarled and shot his claw at his clone. Tigre dodged swiftly, and Manny's claw fell to the ground. Tigre grabbed the chain, pulled Manny towards him and dealt a powerful blow to his mouth. Manny fell to the ground in pain, clutching his bottom jaw. It hurt, worse than anything.

Diego walked over to the two, hands behind his back. "Well, El Tigre? Do you give up?" Manny growled at Diego, wiping the blood away from his mouth.

"Like _hell_, I will," he spat. Diego chuckled.

"Then perish." Tigre drew his arm back and delivered a series of heavy punches and kicks to Manny's gut. Frida's right hook was nothing compared to this. Lastly, Tigre socked Manny in the jaw again. Manny yelled out in pain and dropped to his knees, going into a coughing fit. He grabbed his jawbone again, feeling the blood seeping through his glove. Diego only had one word to say about this. "Die." Tigre readied his fist and claws, ready to rip flesh, but before he could try anything, Diego put his hand up. "Not yet, my clone. _First_…" Diego reached down and grabbed the top of Manny's mask. "I think I want to see the person _behind_ the mask." Manny tried to make a comment, but instead, it came out in raspy breathing and coughs. And then, to Manny's horror, Diego ripped the mask right off his head, laughing like a maniac as he did so.

"Damn… You…" Manny ducked his head down. "My mask may be off, but I'll _die_ before I let you get a look at my real identity…" Diego cackled.

"That can easily be arranged." Suddenly…

_WHAM!_

A giant, foot-thick branch crashed onto Diego's skull. The mini-mad scientist fainted on the spot. The only reason Manny knew this was because he heard the crack from the hit and Diego hitting the ground. He knew it wasn't Tigre because, if it had been, the clone would've simply disintegrated into guacamole. "That's for kidnapping me, you pint-sized bastard!" Manny almost sighed in relief. _Frida…_ Realization struck him. _Frida!! Crap!_ She would figure him out if he wasn't careful! Thankfully, it was night; but the full moon didn't help.

Tigre turned to Frida and extended his claws. Frida stared. "Ehehe… Bye!" She dashed towards Chipotle's house at top speed, Tigre chasing after her. Manny looked up.

"Frida!" He jumped to his feet as quickly as he could, but unfortunately for him, that only caused him more pain. "Ye-oww!!" His legs caved in and he fell to the ground again. He tried to hold himself up with his arms. "Gotta bring that clone down…!" He, more slowly this time, got back up, balancing himself very carefully. "No matter what it takes…"

_**Chipotle's Lab…**_

Frida looked through all the gadgets on the table, looking for anything to stop the cloned El Tigre. "Come on, there's gotta be something here-!" _Ugh, that kid may be a __**scientist**__, but he doesn't make anything __**useful**__!_ She inwardly complained. _And I know what clone is stalking me right now… Luckily for me, he has no idea where I went._ Frida smirked to herself. _Oh yeah, I'm good._ And then her navy eyes landed on something very useful. It looked like some sort of gun, but Frida knew better. She looked at the label- _Guacamole Monster Stabilizer_. She grinned widely. _Oh, and look! A reverse button!_ "Bingo!" She immediately switched the dial and ran back up the stairs, still trying to be as stealthy as possible.

She got as far as one step outside before claws shot out in front of her. Frida yelped, seeing the clone's claw almost slash her across the face. Tigre appeared in front of her, looking as hostile as ever. Frida held the machine up and pointed it at him. "Say good-bye, clone scum!" She pulled the trigger, and a blue-green light shot out. It hit the clone dead on. But something was wrong.

Tigre didn't disintegrate. He just looked down, as if he was questioning what had just happened. Frida looked at the Stabilizer angrily and threw it to the ground. "Piece of crap!" she yelled. Tigre turned back to her, still looking very intimidating. Frida paused. "Uh… Any chance you're gonna let me go?" Tigre extended his claws dangerously. Frida sweatdropped. "Didn't think so." She closed her eyes and put her arms up in defense, ready for the blow of his claws. It never came. Only the sound of something… _squishy_? Frida cautiously opened her eyes, only to see the clone melting back into guacamole. "That's cool…" she commented bluntly. "Gross, but cool."

"Glad you're okay." Manny retracted his claw. He was currently hiding in the shadows of the trees. Frida grinned again once she saw him, and started to do a little dance. She pointed at the melted clone mockingly.

"_Boo-yah!_ _Yeah!_ That's for drugging me yesterday!" Right in the middle of her victory dance, she slipped on the guacamole and fell on her back. "Ow… That actually hurt a bit." Manny ran from his place in the shadows and straight up to Frida. He extended his hand, making sure to withdraw his claws.

"That couldn't have hurt a lot, you only fell on your butt," he said with a teasing tone. Frida grabbed his hand, looking up in the process.

"That's very fu-" Frida stopped her sentence short. Manny cocked an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Frida took her hand back and pointed at his face.

"Your… Um…" Manny felt around his face for anything out of the ordinary; and then he understood Frida's stuttering. _Oh, __**damn**__! My __**mask**__!_ Frida furrowed her brows. "Are you-?"

"Gotta go!" No sooner had he said those two words, Manny shot his claws into the trees and headed off to retrieve his mask from the, hopefully, still unconscious Diego. Either way…

Man, was he ever _screwed_.

---

Talk about a cliffie! I think I'll leave you all waiting in suspense. Cause I'm just that evil. And remember: I want fifty reviews before I update~! Sayonara!


	9. Doctor's Visit

This chapter's going to be relatively short, almost like a filler. At least it'll be longer than the second chapter.

…Okay, I admit it- This is basically comic relief, since the last chapter was so serious.

**Chapter 9**

**Doctor's Visit**

Manny woke up the next morning feeling very unpleasant. His injuries from the night before were exceedingly harmful to his body, and obviously, they weren't going to heal overnight. In fact, they probably weren't going to heal for days, or weeks. How was it that a thirteen-year-old boy and his clone did more damage to his body that an old freaky skeleton woman with a magic guitar?

Manny sat up very slowly, wincing in pain as he did so. His jaw was still sore beyond words, as it was probably broken. He looked down at his shirt; blood had seeped through it. It wasn't a lot, but it was still there. He could also feel dried blood around his chin, cheek and upper chest.

"Mother… Next person who says I don't know my own strength, I'm gonna say 'Oh, _yes I do_; and I'm _way_ to damn strong for my own good'." He winced again. _"OWW!!!"_ _This sucks!_ Apparently a broken jaw plus, most likely, bruised bones was not a pleasant combination. Manny flipped himself over on his hands and, being as careful as he could possibly be, got up on his two feet and tried to walk without limping. He soon learned that this was not possible. "I have _got_ to make sure Frida doesn't see me like this…" He looked down at his blood-stained clothes. _Looks like __**that's**__ not possible either._ There was no way he could cover that up in time; it was the weekend and Frida would be over early. They always hung out on the weekends.

Manny paced back and forth for what felt like hours. Well, of course it would feel like hours, he had to pace himself in an unhurried fashion or risk hurting himself further. "Excuses… Excuses…" he muttered slowly, careful not to damage his jaw any more. _What would be a good excuse…? _"Uh… I fell down the stairs?" _Yeah, __**real**__ believable. Frida's a C+ student, but she's not stupid when it comes to her __**friends**__._ "Gaaah… I wish God had blessed me with brains instead of a magic belt…" (A/N: orly?)

Thinking of his belt made him think of last night's events. Manny paused. _Oh yeah… Oh, damn._ Another reason he didn't want to see Frida.

_**Flashback**_

"_That couldn't have hurt a lot, you only fell on your butt," he said with a teasing tone. Frida grabbed his hand, looking up in the process._

"_That's very fu-" Frida stopped her sentence short. Manny cocked an eyebrow. _

"_What is it?" Frida took her hand back and pointed at his face._

"_Your… Um…" Manny felt around his face for anything out of the ordinary; and then he understood Frida's stuttering. _Oh, **damn**! My **mask**!_ Frida furrowed her brows. "Are you-?"_

"_Gotta go!" No sooner had he said those two words, Manny shot his claws into the trees and headed off to retrieve his mask from the, hopefully, still unconscious Diego._

_**End Flashback**_

"Wonder if she saw my face…" Manny ran his hand through his curly bangs. "Man, I'm _screwed_ if she did…" He looked at his watch. Ten-forty. Twenty minutes until Frida would show up. He sighed. "You know what, let me just get this over with… There's no way Frida's going to let my injuries go, and there's no way she's not going to show up…"

_**Suarez House…**_

"No, really, I'm fine… Some stupid kid attacked me… Yeah, he _was_ a dork, as a matter of fact… Thirteen, I think. I hit him over the head with a branch… I _hope_ I gave him brain damage! … No, El Tigre did all the fighting… Shut up, Rosa! … Yeah, yeah, practice on Monday. Later." Frida pressed the 'End Call' button on her cell phone and sighed. _I really wish she would stop acting like my older sister. I already live with two._ She looked at the clock hanging on the wall. Ten-fifty-three. Frida grabbed her backpack from the couch and slung it over her shoulder. "Now, time to go meet-" The doorbell rang. Frida smacked her forehead.

"And who else would like to distract me today?" She walked to her front door and pulled it open hastily. "If it's not important, then- Manny?" Manny flashed her a peace sign.

"What's up?" He grabbed his jaw again. _"Ow."_ Frida stared. At his blood-stained shirt, at his clutched jaw, and at his face, contorted in pain. Frida looked back inside her house for a moment, then came outside and shut the door quickly. She turned to Manny with an upset expression.

"Manny, you idiot! Are you _crazy_!? What have you been _doing_!?" Manny was more or less relieved. From her questions, Manny guessed that Frida hadn't figured him out. Now, another problem…

"I… Ehh…" Frida rubbed her temples.

"You know what? Don't even answer, because I'm not sure I want to know." She grabbed his wrist and started to pull him.

"_Ow!_ Frida!! Where are we _going_!?"

"Like I'm letting you walk around like that. We're going to Señor Chavez."

_**Physician…**_

"Frida, did you _have_ to drag me here?"

"What do you _think_? Now get on there." Frida pointed at the examination table. Manny folded his arms stubbornly.

"Make me," he muttered. Frida raised an eyebrow and punched him. Manny yelped and clutched his arm. "_OWW!_ Frida!"

"Get on."

"Yes, _mother dearest_- OW! Alright, alright!" Manny gripped the edge of the table and cautiously heaved himself onto it. Just as he did, the door opened and a middle-aged man entered. Frida waved to him.

"Hey, Señor Chavez. Thanks for taking us on short notice." Señor Chavez shrugged.

"Slow day. Now, why is this so urgent?"

"Manny has some really bad injuries; you think you could take a look at them?"

"Sure, why not?" Señor Chavez walked over to Manny, shifting his glasses. "Take off your jacket and pull off your shirt." Manny mumbled something under his breath, but did as he was told. His jacket came off relatively easily, but his shirt was another story. Since he was sore, and had many miscellaneous bruised and or broken body parts, Frida had to help him take his shirt off.

"Dude. You need a shirt that _doesn't_ cling to you…" Frida commented. Manny snorted.

"Oh, shut up…" Señor Chavez took a glance at Manny's upper body injuries and shook his head.

"That must've been some fight you were in."

"Err, yeah." Señor Chavez took a closer look at Manny's jaw.

"Open your mouth."

"Do I have to?"

"Manny…!"

"Fine!" Manny opened his mouth slowly, but to no avail. "Ow!" Señor Chavez looked at Frida and cleared his throat.

"You really don't need to be a doctor to diagnose his injuries," he said. "But you do need to be one to help him out. I'll be right back; I'm going to need more gauze…" The doctor accidentally slammed the door on the way out. Manny folded his arms again.

"You hear? I didn't even have to come here, Frida."

"Hey; he said that you didn't have to be a doctor to _diagnose_ you. _He_ still needs to wrap you up," Frida answered.

"Whatever… Anyway, what happened yesterday? You totally blew me off." Frida glared at him.

"For your information Manny, some creep kidnapped me two nights ago," she snapped. "I didn't blow you off, I just wasn't around! And I mean that in a literal sense." Manny inwardly smirked.

"Okay then? So who was it?"

"Some genius preteen dork that cloned El Tigre. But the real one ended up defeating them and saving me anyway." Frida ran her hand through her ice-blue bangs. "But then he just ran off…"

"Maybe to get a restraining order," Manny smirked. Frida threw him a hostile glare.

"No, it was because that kid took his mask off. He freaked out when he remembered he didn't have it on." Manny's fingers twitched unconsciously.

"So… Did you see what he looked like?" he anxiously asked, holding his breath. Frida sighed.

"No, I didn't see…" she replied. She sounded almost sad. "His head was blocking the light from the moon; it casted a shadow on his face." Manny was able to breathe again once he heard that. _I'm off the hook!_ "I wish I _had_, though…" Frida continued. "It would've been nice to know who saved me _twice_…" Manny made fake kissing noises. Frida punched him in the arm. _Hard_.

"_OWW! __**Frida**__!!"_ Frida folded her arms.

"That'll teach ya." Many rubbed his arm.

"Yeah, it'll teach me to keep everything to myself…" Frida bit the inside of her cheek and leaned on the edge of the table.

"So… How did you get those injuries again?" Manny froze. From the tone of her voice, he could find out two things. One, he most certainly was _not_ off the hook; two, he was still in danger of being found out. He scratched behind his head nervously.

"I- Well- You see…" Frida turned her head and raised an eyebrow.

"Well?" She shook her head and turned her body completely around.

"Don't _tell_ me you got into a two-on-one fight with Paolo… You need to stop running into him."

"…Yeah! _That's_ what happened!" Manny grinned like an idiot. "I would've told you _before_, but I was afraid you'd _castrate_ me, like you keep promising." Frida rolled her eyes. Señor Chavez came back into the room, rolls of gauze and tape in hand. He set them down on a table.

"Let me start with your broken jawbone." He took a roll of gauze and unrolled a few feet of it. "Just do me a favor and hold this end right on your cheek." Manny did as he was told. In a few minutes, the gauze was wrapped around his head securely. Frida started laughing. Manny glared at her.

"It's not funny!" Señor Chavez shook his head.

"At least it's not too bad; you'll be feeling a lot of pain from it, but there's nothing that can't be healed over time. You're lucky, surgery isn't needed." The two best friends shared a mutual sigh of relief. "However, judging by the many bruises on your chest and abdominal areas, movement is not recommended unless absolutely necessary." Señor Chavez placed his hand on Manny's chest for a moment. "Nothing's broken; if anything was, you wouldn't be able to move this well." He grabbed another roll of gauze and began to wrap it around the boy's upper body. "Now, let's get the rest of your upper body wrapped up."

_**Twenty minutes later…**_

Frida and Manny walked out of the doctor's office, one of them looking very upset. Guess who. "You could lighten up, Manny," Frida muttered loudly. "Just be lucky that you didn't have to pay for surgery. You didn't even pay for the freakin' bandages and the rest of the crap Señor Chavez did."

"_Yeah_, and how did _you_ pay for it?"

"I keep my dad's credit card on me."

"And he doesn't notice?"

"Nope." Frida grinned at him, but her smile was once again replaced with a confused, irritated look. "Now, why are you so grumpy again?"

"Probably 'cause I got my ass kicked in a fight and went to the freakin' _doctor_." Frida rolled her eyes skyward.

"First off," she started, holding a finger up. "Get over the fight. Second, like I said, you're lucky you didn't have to get any kind of surgery." Manny raised an eyebrow.

"You said I was lucky that I didn't have to _pay_."

"Dude, you get the point, that's what matters."

"Whatever."

"…"

"…"

"…I want churros." Manny laughed. _Typical Frida._

"Then why don't we go to the movies or something and you can get a few? I mean, you got your dad's credit card, it'd be a shame to waste it." Frida smirked and folded her arms.

"Are you sure you just don't want to go to the movies?"

"Maaaaaybe." Frida laughed along with her friend and pushed him lightly, not wanting to cause him any more pain.

"Fine, movies it is. Just as long as it isn't X-Men Origins." Manny gave his friend a puzzled expression.

"Why not?"

"Cause it sucked." Then Frida went into a detailed explanation of _why_ the movie sucked. "It was like a fanfic gone wrong… Well, _all_ fanfics are stupid, but you get my point. It's like they threw together all bad action movies of the 90's and just changed the title to Mutant-Something. They disgraced Gambit and everyone else, and every character that wasn't Hugh Jackman was only in the movie for cameos or something! They were only there to direct the dude and give him another location to go to. Plus, they made Wolverine seem like a godmodder who's freakin' _invincible_! _And_ they have no idea what a mutant _is_! Apparently some guy's good at kung fu or judo or something and that makes him a mutant!" Manny snorted.

"Since when is kung fu a mutant power?"

"I have no idea. 'Hey, I can climb a tree in under fifteen minutes! I'm definitely some sort of freaking mutant!' That's precisely what I got out of that movie."

"…_Sooo_… Battle of the Smithsonian or Year One?"

"Both."

"Sweetness."

----

Seriously. Don't watch that X-Men movie. You'll die in seven days. (Next goal is 66 reviews)


	10. I'm Not Jealous!

Sorry if this is short… AND SORRY IF I'M LATE. BUSY SUMMER. And with school… I don't even wanna THINK about when I'm going to update!

Quote(s) of the day-

"_Uh-oh! Light's in a pinch! Pinch! Pinch! Oh boy, he's in a pinch!!!"_

"_MATSUDA! SHUT THE HELL UP!"_

_Matsuda and Aizawa, Death Note, chapter 93, page 6_

Beware: Overuse of the word 'dangerous' up ahead.

**Chapter 10**

**I'm Not Jealous!**

_Click._

_Click._

_Click._

"God _dammit_!" Manny groaned. He was close to throwing the nearest book straight out the window, through the glass.

After watching the two movies with Frida, Manny had gone to the public library. He spent the last two hours on the computer, searching for a more current article or page about White Pantera. So far, the only thing he found was that the person who invented Google News should have an online filing cabinet... Or a better one, at least. The most recent article was from _1974_. Manny's forehead made contact with the desk. _A __**newspaper**__ would have more information than this piece of crap website… Hell, __**Romero**__ knows more about Pantera than Google does!_

"Looks like someone's pissed off at the world," a feminine, yet dangerous, voice came from behind. "And for once, it's not me." Manny slowly picked his head up and turned around. He cringed when he saw who it was.

_Zoe Aves._

Zoe used to be one of Manny's classmates, back when he attended Leone Middle School. She and Frida fought constantly, over the stupidest things; and if Frida didn't like her, that meant, for some reason, Manny didn't like her either. Zoe also used to have a crush on him, which had severely creeped him out. He wondered if she was still jealous of Frida.

Almost everyone thought of her as a goth or emo girl. She had dark hair with streaks of purple and pink and always wore the color black. Manny didn't know the difference between goth and emo, but he was _sure_ that she was _one_ of the two.

"Yo." His greeting was unenthusiastic. "What are you doing here, Aves? Looking for more of that drab poetry of yours?" Zoe rolled her eyes.

"Very _funny_, Rivera. FYI, we've got a report due in two weeks for history class, and I still need to pick out a book." Manny cocked an eyebrow.

"Frida never mentioned any report. She should've been doing that instead of hanging out with me today…" he mumbled. Zoe snorted.

"Frida? Do a report? Don't make me laugh. She's the last person who would do a history essay." _Good point._ "And don't talk like you're a saint, Manny," she continued. "Odds are, if you hadn't been taken out of the school system, you'd be putting it off as well. So you and your blue-haired idiot _friend_ could have your special alone time with each other." Manny inwardly smirked. Oh yeah, she was still jealous.

"Back off, _bird-girl_, I'm _trying_ to research here." He turned around and went back to surfing the web. Zoe sat on the desk.

"Research on what? How to take care of injuries?" she asked, noticing the band around his head. Manny pinched the bridge of his nose. The fact that she was seriously asking made him even more annoyed.

"Ha ha, no. I'm trying to find some info on White Pantera, but Google's being an ass." Zoe blinked.

"Why learn about him? Supervillains are much cooler." Manny stared at her flatly. _Why doesn't it surprise me that you think that way?_ "But… If you're looking to learn about White Pantera, I know plenty about him. Or, if you're not too keen on learning from me, why not go to this?" Zoe turned the keyboard to her and typed something in very quickly. She pressed enter, and a window popped up. Manny blinked.

_TENTH ANNUAL WHITE PANTERA MEMORIAL DAY_

Manny looked up at Zoe. "What is this?"

"A site with information," she replied in a sarcastic manner. "The mayor hosts a celebration at a random place every year in Miracle City. Even though Pantera died sixteen years ago, they've only been having this event for the past nine years. This'll be a decade of celebrating, so it's bound to be big. I know a lot of other sites that have tons of information on White Pantera."

"How come I never heard of the memorial thing or any of these websites?"

"Because you live in a hollow, dark shell."

"And you don't?"

"Back off, Rivera, or I'll break your jaw."

"Too late, already broken it." Manny went back to staring at the screen. "And if you hate superheroes, then how come you know about the White Pantera websites?"

"I look up heroes and compare them to villains," she replied bluntly. "I usually end up comparing White Pantera most of the time. That means I know a lot about him." Manny raised another eyebrow and folded his arms.

"Oh yeah? How much?" Zoe smirked.

"White Pantera's abilities come from the Bronze Boots of Truth, he started wearing his superhero outfit all the time starting in middle school, his ancestors were El Tigre the First, Dark Leopard, Golden Leon, The Mighty Cheetar, and Justice Jaguar, he lived with his father, Puma Loco after his wife, Maria, left him, he dated two girls named Carmelita and Maria in high school, his favorite color is gold, his secret iden-"

"That's enough!!" Manny yelled. "I get it, you know a lot! Just shut up already!" _I may be desperate for some good information, but I don't need to hear it from __**you**__! _Then he realized something. _El Tigre the __**First**__…?_ "…But… Can you tell me something about-"

"No."

"But-!"

"You told me to shut up." Zoe jumped off the desk, combat boots making a heavy _thud_ once they hit the ground.

"But I wanna know about El Tigre!" Manny replied. "If you've researched so much, you've gotta know _something_ about him!"

"Which one? The first El Tigre or the current one?"

"The first."

"Tough shit." Manny fell over. "I have a report to do. And you don't like me. So I see no point in-"

"When did I say I didn't like you?" Zoe paused. Manny inwardly smirked. _Gotcha._ "Never said that. And I've let everything in middle school go." Silence. Zoe turned her head slowly.

"…Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"You're not just saying that to get info from me, are you?"

"If I wanted to, I could just go to my employer, Señor Romero. I'm sure he could tell me a lot more." Zoe bit her lip, annoyed that Manny was right.

"Fine. But not right away. Report, remember? I can put it off for a bit. It shouldn't take too long, I'm a whizz at reports, in case you forgot-"

"Yeah, yeah, do your paper. Just remember, okay? By the way, tomorrow's my day off, so can I come by then?" Zoe nodded. She grabbed a pen off the desk and tore a piece of paper from a nearby printer. She handed it to Manny after jotting something down quickly. "That's my address." Manny inwardly snickered. _Sucker._

"Ah, okay…" Manny shoved it into his jacket pocket. _Better not let Frida see that… She'll kill me… Or worse, __**castrate**__ me!_ Manny tried to stifle his laughter. Frida's so-called threat was just so amusing. Especially since it was a hollow threat.

"Later, Rivera." Zoe turned and headed towards a different section. "By the way…"

"Yeah, what?"

"You said that Señor Romero gave you a job, right?"

"And…?"

"What idiot would hire you?"

"Oh, go look for your stupid book already…"

_**Angelic Mercado, the next day…**_

Manny wordlessly sprayed the produce section of the store with the hose. Orlando and he had switched jobs for the time being, with Romero's approval. When Manny had stopped at Angelic Mercado the day before to start his shift, Romero had been surprised that Manny had come in so late, but he was _completely_ appalled by his employee's wounds. As he inquired about the injuries, Manny covered up by saying that he had been hit by a car while he was jumping out of the way. Romero didn't seem to buy it completely, but he let it go, along with dismissing his tardiness; that is, as long as he worked his hours now. He gave Manny and Orlando permission to switch their duties for as long as Manny was incapable of doing his own chores, considering Orlando's jobs were slightly less tedious.

So, here he was, rinsing off vegetables for the time being.

_This sucks,_ he grumbled inwardly_. But at least I can head over to Zoe's house after this. She said she could put her report off a bit to teach me about the first El Tigre and White Pantera._

_SPLASH._

"GWAAAH!" Manny blocked the spray of water that came in contact with his face. Unfortunately, the water had successfully soaked his clothes. Orlando's obnoxious laughter entered the superhero boy's ears. "That's not _funny_!" Orlando simply continued to cackle like an idiot.

"Pwnage!" he cried. Manny switched the dial on the hose to _Jet_.

"So _that's_ how it is, eh?" Manny pointed the hose at his co-worker and fired at him over and over, imitating a shotgun. Orlando made a dramatic gesture as soon as he was hit, as if his chest was punctured by a bullet. (A/N: You would think these guys were still in middle school...)

"Gaah! I've been hit!" He made all different sorts of sounds, from gurgling, choking noises to groans and snapping his wrists. Manny got a kick out of Orlando's overdone acting, and would have fallen on the floor laughing, had he not remembered his chest and abdominal injuries.

"Manny! Orlando! What's going on here!?" The duo's laughter died down once they saw their boss. Romero quickly surveyed the area, eyebrows raised. "And why are you two and the aisle soaking wet!?" Manny and Orlando pointed at each other and simultaneously replied with, 'He did it!'. Romero pinched the bridge of his nose, trying very hard not to pull his hair out. "…Just clean it up and get back to work."

_**Hours later…**_

It was nine-o-clock. (A/N: Before you even ask, no, I did not make that time up. See the bottom of the chapter for the deets!) Manny exited the store, carefully sliding his arms into his jacket. "Guuuh… _Achoo_!" he sneezed. He had learned one very important equation during his shift; wet clothes plus cold air conditioning equals an uncomfortable chill. He was almost glad to be back outside in the heat.

"Now… Where did I put Zoe's address?" he mumbled, searching his pockets with both hands. Feeling a piece of paper in his left jacket pocket, he grinned. "Got it!" He pulled the paper out and looked over the address. "Okay, so from here, I should go-" He paused. _Wait… It's __**nine**__. __**P.M**__.… Would I even be allowed over at this time?_ A shrill, excited voice caught his attention.

"Manny!"

"Shit." Manny shoved his hands into his pockets quickly, in a pathetic attempt to hide the note. He smiled at Frida and waved, maybe being a little too enthusiastic. "Hey, Frida. What's goin' on?" Frida practically glomped the poor boy as soon as she was close enough. Manny stood there, frozen for a second; he wasn't sure if it was out of embarrassment or because Frida had touched his injury. "What are you doing!?"

"_Dude!_ Guess what!?" Frida decided to finish before Manny could answer. "My band is getting hired to play at some upcoming festival!" She let go of her friend, not wanting to hurt him accidentally… any more than she already had. "And we're getting paid!" Manny high-fived her.

"That's sweet! _Especially_ the getting _paid_ part!" Manny wasn't all too surprised, though; Frida and her band were really talented. "When is it?"

"Sunday! We're gonna be playing 'till five, so you gotta catch us early!"

"That's grea-!" Manny paused. _Hang on a minute, that's **tomorrow**… Aw, **damn**! I told Zoe that I would come over then! I mean, it's not like I'm **obligated** to go see her, but I really wanna learn about El Tigre the First!_ "…I don't think I can make it. Sorry, Frida." The blue-haired girl's expression went from excited to downcast.

"Aww! Why!? I was even gonna ask you to come sing that one song with me! You know, the one we wrote in middle school!" Manny bit his lip, weighing his options. _Singing, or learning about my past… __Singing, or learning about my past… _Singing, or learning about my past… Grr. He shook his head.

"Like I said, I'm sorry. I just have to go somewhere tomorrow." Frida folded her arms skeptically.

"No offense Manny, but you're a teen with no living relatives or a legal guardian, you're living in an abandoned apartment complex and you're almost flat broke. Where could you _possibly_ be going?"

"Just somewhere, okay!? _Geez!_ Do you have to know my every _move_!?" Frida said nothing, simply observing her friend. Her navy eyes landed on his hand, shoved into his pocket. He hadn't taken it out since she saw him.

"Whatcha' got in the pocket?" Manny froze over.

"N-Nothing! I just like keeping my hand in there!" Frida didn't buy it. Not at all.

_"Manuel,"_ she started in a dangerously sweet voice. "Tell me what you've got there."

"There's nothing there, I swear!"

"…Hmph. Okay, then." Frida turned tail and started walking away. Manny sighed a breath of relief, letting his shoulders sag once again. He had expected her to give up after a while, as she usually did when she was already mad with him. However, there was no way in hell he was expecting Frida to turn around and _jump_ him. "What's in your damn _pocket_!?"

"GAAH! _Frida!_ That's assault!"

"Give it!"

"_Puta loca!"_

"_What_ did you just call me!? Give it up, you _bastard_!" Within seconds, Frida had Manny trapped with her one arm and legs. Manny groaned, unable to escape. _God forbid she ever joins a wrestling team… even the **boys** would fear her._ Using her one free hand, Frida reached into his pocket and took the paper out. She looked it over many times, eyes growing wider every time she did. She slowly released Manny, in too much shock to keep holding him. "…Manny…?"

"Y-Yeah?" he replied, almost afraid to answer.

"This is the home address of Zoe Aves."

"I know…" Frida's navy eyes practically turned crimson red with fury.

"You _know_!? You know this is that she-devil's address and yet you hang _onto_ it!? Why do you have it in the _first_ place, _huh_!? _**Well!?**_"

"I'm just going over there to-"

"_**WHAT!?"**_ Frida screeched. "You're actually going to her _house_!? Have you gone _loco_!?"

"No, I haven't!" Manny retorted, face scrunched up in a scowl. "Why are you overreacting like this, anyway!?"

"Have you _forgotten_ that she's my _arch nemesis_!? We've hated her for, like, _ever_! And you're just gonna waltz over to her _house_ now!? For _what_, _**may**_ I _ask_!?"

"_None_ of your _business_!"

"It is _**so**_ my business! My best friend and my worst nightmare together in the _same house_, uh, _yeah_! _My. __**Business**_!"

"_SHADDUP!"_ a random stranger's angry voice echoed in the streets_. "__**Some**__ people actually go to bed __**early**__ around here!"_

"_SHADDUP, YOURSELF!"_ Frida screamed back at the man, even though she had no idea where the voice came from. "_We're __**trying**__ to have a discussion over here, so __**butt out**__!"_ There was no more talk from the stranger. Manny folded his arms tightly.

"You know what, Frida?" he muttered. "I think you're jealous." Frida turned on him like a mongoose on a cobra.

**"What?"** she asked in a dangerous, low tone.

"Why else would you be overreacting like this? Yeah, okay, she's your mortal enemy. Me, I just dislike her. There's no problem here, except for your overdone anger." Frida was quiet. Too quiet.

"You wanna _repeat_ that, _Rivera_?" Manny didn't pick up the warning label that came with her words.

"All I'm saying is, green _reeeeeally_ isn't your color, _chica_."

_SLAP._

Manny held his stinging cheek in one hand. Frida threw the piece of paper down and stormed off in the direction of her house. _"Cabrón!"_

--

OooooOOOOoooh, Manny's in deep shit =D Lol. Okay, maybe I made them a little OOC. Hey. My fanfic. Not yours. Go jump off a bridge if you have a problem.

I want at least 85 reviews!

Now, for the time in that one paragraph… I actually figured out that Manny would most likely be out of the library and at his job by 2:30, after the doctor's and the two movies, considering the time he woke up; and it's Saturday, which means he was supposed to work six and a half hours at Angelic Mercado. DO TEH MATH, BEETCHES.

Now, for the Spanish references…

Puta loco- crazy bitch (I'm pretty sure, correct me otherwise)

Cabrón- Bastard (Though the literal translation means a male goat…)


	11. Beyond a Triangle

Well, I'm not dead. I've dropped fanfiction almost completely, though, save for a few spare ideas. Since this is one of my stories that I feel the most guilty over not updating, I figured, why not? Here you go.

Hopefully my writing and storytelling has improved. (I edited what I could, but don't be expecting a masterpiece.)

Also, how did this get over 100 reviews without me updating?

**Chapter 11**

**Beyond a Triangle**

Manny stared out the window, head resting on his arms. He was unbelievably tired at the moment, and had trouble keeping his eyes open. A yawn escaped his mouth. By this point, it should be obvious that he had gotten no sleep the night before.

From the time Frida had left, up till now, a deep feeling of regret had rested itself in his subconscious. It made his body feel incredibly heavy. He could still feel the sting from the girl's slap on his cheek. At this point, he thought he deserved another one.

Another slap, yes. A bucket of ice-cold water dumped on his head? Not by any means.

Manny's body jolted upright upon contact with the water, almost instantaneously. That did nothing to help heal his still-aching body. He coughed a bit. "What the hell was that!"

Zoe had half a mind to hit him with the bucket used previously. "You idiot! Stop daydreaming when I'm talking to you!" Manny blinked.

"Huh…? Oh, yeah… Sorry…" He scratched his head for a moment. "Can I have a towel?" This time, Zoe _did_ hit him with the bucket. Manny clutched his head in pain, biting his bottom lip to hold back a yelp. Zoe snorted.

"Idiots who doze off while I'm teaching don't _get_ towels." Manny glared at her. _Man, I hate that bird bitch._

Manny had gone to Zoe's house early in the morning. It was quite easy for him to wake up, seeing as he barely fell asleep the whole night. He wanted to get his 'White Pantera 101' lessons over with as quickly as possible, so he could get to the festival. Maybe Frida would loosen up and forgive him if he showed up to watch her performance like he so dearly wanted to.

"Well, _so__**rry**_, _teacher_," Manny muttered, spitting the words as if they were nails. "I'm just not in the mood to listen to you lecture, even if it _is_ on White Pantera or El Tigre the First." Zoe folded her arms and raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Then why did you even bother _coming_?" she questioned, not an ounce of emotion in her voice. Manny sighed, and promptly went back to staring out the window.

"I dunno…" he mumbled a reply. "I just wanted to learn something so I could head to the festival… Guess I'm not into-"

"Alrighty then."

"Eh?" Manny turned his attention to Zoe. She unfolded her arms and grabbed her backpack.

"Let's go."

"Where?"

_WHAM._

The almighty bucket of doom made contact with Manny's head again. While he was bent over in pain, Zoe gave her answer to the question. "The _festival_, you _idiot_. Obviously, sitting here and talking to you isn't working. So let's go somewhere more lively. _Okay_?" Manny exhaled slowly and stood up, careful not to hurt himself again. However, one realization made him pause.

"Uh, Zoe? This isn't a _date_, is-?"

"Hey!" Manny blinked. Zoe was already standing near the door. "You coming or what, Rivera?"

"… Yeah, coming."

* * *

_**Center of Town…**_

* * *

The entrance to the festival was marked by a huge banner with the words _VIVA LA PANTERA_ written in bold, red letters. Manny wasn't paying attention to the banner, however. No, he was paying more attention to the crowd of people that had gathered before city hall. He couldn't believe that he had missed this for the past few years. Was he really that dense?

A small voice in the back of his mind answered, "Yes."

"Oi, Manito." Manny turned to Zoe, trying not to gag at the nickname she had just come up with. _What is she, my mother?_ "We gonna head in or what?"

"That's why we came here, isn't it?" Manny folded his arms. "We're here because you're going to-"

"Teach you about the Pantera, yeah, yeah," Zoe finished for him. "Like I don't know that. But we can't have a little fun while you're learning?" _Oh boy, I don't like the sound of that…_

"And by that, you mean…?" Zoe rolled her eyes sky high, and grabbed Manny's arm.

"Just come on." With that, she pulled him past the banner and into the festival, ignoring his protests.

* * *

_**Behind the stage…**_

* * *

"_Friiiidaaaaa_! Can't we take a _break_!"

"No! Not until we get the song down _perfectly_!"

"But it's _already_ perfect!"

Frida felt like smashing her brains out with her guitar. Why wouldn't Rosa and Teeny see that they had to _practice_! They were going to be performing in front of the entire city, for God's sake! If they messed up… _No, I shouldn't say that. We're __**not**__ going to mess up._ Rosa continued to work on her hair.

"Frida, hun, it ain't gonna get much better than it already is," she argued. "Why don't ya' take a break? Get something to drink, cool yourself down. Just 'cause you had a fight with that dim-witted boy of yours, ya don't need to take it out on us." On reflex, Frida yelled,

"He's not my boyfriend!" Then she reexamined her friend's comment. "Wait, how do you know about that?" Rosa held up her cell phone.

"Did you forget about the forty-minute rant you left on my answering machine?" she replied, trying not to smirk. Frida groaned and threw her hands up in the air.

"But it's _Zoe Aves_! How can I _not_ be angry about that! _JERK_!"

"Um… Frida?" Teeny interrupted. "Maybe you should take Rosa's advice and calm yourself down… Why don't you go get some lemonade?" Frida huffed.

"I don't need a break."

"But you _do_ need a coolin' down," Rosa interjected. "I think the heat's finally gettin' to ya." Frida folded her arms tightly and marched out. Rosa and Teeny high-fived each other.

* * *

"One churro, please."

"Aye."

Frida took a long sip of her soda while she waited for her snack to be ready. She tried to keep herself from crushing her can in her fist from stress. She hated that she just could _not_ _relax_. Everybody around her looks so carefree and happy, even in this spicy cesspool of crime and villainy. Even Manny and Zoe looked happy-

_Wait, what?_

Frida did a triple-take. She looked back into the crowd, and spotted her best friend and worst enemy. Together. In the same place. Within a two foot radius of each other. Shock came to her first, but was quickly overcome by three levels of absolute fury. _Oh, __**no**__ he __**didn't**__._

"Miss, your churro-"

"_Screw_ the churro!" she screamed at the churro salesman, storming away and into the crowd.

* * *

"…And that's why the villains of the Rivera family use battle suits instead of Objects of Power." Manny chuckled a bit.

"You know, that's a really stupid reason, Zoe," he sneered. Zoe bit back the urge to hit him with her bucket again.

"Hey, I'm only explaining it to you," she replied curtly. "It's not my fault. Blame circumstances."

"Nah, I'd rather blame my idiot ancestors for creating the circumstances in the first place." At the (Albeit rather _lame_) joke, Zoe laughed; it was a quiet one, covered by her hand, but still a laugh. Manny scratched behind his head. _Man, when she's not acting all dark and scary, she seems almost __**normal**__…_ Before he could yell at himself for thinking that, somebody came up behind him and poured something cold, wet, and sticky on top of his head.

Manny nearly leapt into the air from the cold sensation running down his back; not only was the liquid freezing, but somehow ice cubes had found their way down his shirt and jacket. _Second time today, man, __**second time today**__!_ He spun around to give the person a piece of his mind, but stopped midway. _Oh, shit._

"F-F-Frida!" he stuttered. As soon as he saw the fire in her dark blue eyes, he knew he was royally screwed. He couldn't decipher exactly what she was feeling, but he damn well knew anger was definitely there. Frida crushed her soda can in her fist.

"_Manuel Pablo Gutierrez O'Brian Equihua Rivera_!" Frida yelled in his face. She was the only one who knew his full name, and she used it even less than he did; and because of that, he knew just how fucked over he really was. "What the _hell_ are you doing _here_! _With __**her**_!" Manny stuttered. It was impossible for him to get any words out. "I _thought_ you said that you couldn't come to the _festival_ because you were going to that bitch's _house_!" Zoe decided to step in at this moment, ignoring the foul nickname.

"For you information, Frida," she sneered. "He _did_ come to my house. Early in the morning. But, you know, we decided to take our _date_ outside. It's no good to stay inside all day." Both Manny and Frida froze. Manny looked between the two girls in panic. If there was one place he didn't want to be, it was in the middle of the next world war – Which was most certainly going to be created by these two at some point in time. He would just rather it not happen now, before he had a chance to talk with Frida. _Wonder if I should just bury myself right now…_

After getting over the initial shock of the comment, Frida marched over to Zoe, jabbing her in the chest with her index finger. "Your _date_?" she repeated, her tone of voice more deadly than a cobra's venom. "What do you _**mean**_, _your __**date**_?" Zoe smirked, not fazed by the bluenette's anger at all.

"Just exactly what I said," she answered. To emphasize it, she latched herself onto Manny's arm, and hugged it tightly. "Manny and I are on a date."

Manny was just about done with this. He tried to pull away from Zoe, but every time he did, she just gripped him tighter like a boa constrictor. "Let _go_ of me, _Zoe_!" He frantically turned to Frida, stuttering again. "Frida, it's not what it looks like, I swear! I only went over to her house because she said she could teach me about White Pantera, then she said coming here would be more lively, and I'd learn more if I'm awake, so-!"

_**Slap.**_

Frida's hand made contact with Manny's cheek for a second time. Only this time, there was _much_ more sting to it. It wasn't because she had slapped him harder. It was because of the driving force behind it.

Manny was torn between options; he could either yell at her, or he could _get_ yelled at. Although neither of those options helped him, he knew one of them would happen. What he didn't count on, though, was seeing a lone tear in the corner of Frida's eye.

He waited for her to say something, waited for the outburst, but it never came. That really did it. Her not saying anything was more upsetting than having her scream at him. Manny bit the inside of his upper lip. "Frida, just _listen_-" he started. He didn't get to finish, however. Frida was already running back to the stage at full speed. "_Frida_!"

"Success."

Manny looked down at Zoe. She detached herself from his arm, and fixed her dress. She had a wicked smirk on her face, like she had just won some sort of cheated victory. Manny narrowed his eyes. "_What_ was that, Aves?" Zoe examined her fingernails.

"I won; it's simple as that."

"Won _what_!" Manny grabbed her shoulder tightly. "Did you come here _just_ to make Frida feel _horrible_!" Zoe gave him one of her innocent smiles, which was very obviously not innocent in the slightest.

"You make it sound like it's a _bad_ thing." Manny had to keep himself from snarling at her. He took his hand back.

"If you weren't a girl, I'd-! _I'd_-! _Graah_!" He didn't bother to finish. Manny turned around, almost completely forgetting that Zoe was there, and began muttering words incoherently to go along with his thoughts.

_Man, I screwed up… __**Really**__ screwed up. Frida hates my guts now more than she does __**Zoe's**__. Probably. … __And__ she was __**crying**__… When was the last time I saw her do that?_ He couldn't remember; that was troublesome. He groaned again, stopped pacing, and turned to Zoe again. "You know _what_, Aves! You're a _real_-! Eh?" He stopped short, upon noticing that Zoe was no longer around. He looked around. "Geez. She gives me a helluva' hard time, and walks away without saying anything. She _is_ a bitch."

"_People of Miracle City_!"

The intercom voice was loud and clear. Manny recognized the voice as the mayor's. He spotted the mayor atop the nearby stage, only able to speak into the microphone because of a wooden stool.

"_Thank you all for gathering for our celebration! This means you all still hold White Pantera close to your heart_!" Manny snorted at this. _Who is he kidding? These people just love a good party_. The mayor continued. He gestured over to a tall, curtain-covered object next to him. "_I will now unveil the greatest memory, White Pantera's own weapon of choice…_" The mayor pulled the sheet off of what was revealed to be a pedestal. On the pedestal, there were golden boots. "_The Bronze Boots of Truth_!"

The crowd oo'd and aah'd at the unveiling. Manny was also staring. The boots looked shiny and new, as if White Pantera had been using them yesterday. _Oh, wow. The boots…_ He remembered Zoe saying that, if someone touched the boots, the truth would come out of them immediately. It didn't even matter what the truth was about, but the person definitely couldn't lie. Whatever came out of the person's mouth was unpredictable. That was definitely a word that described this day to a letter.

And it just kept getting even more so.

When someone shouted about vultures were circling in the sky, nobody took notice… But when those vultures decided to swoop down on the crowd, everyone noticed. Especially since they weren't actual vultures. No, they definitely weren't vultures.

The so-called "vultures" turned out to be, from what many could see, three villains. Female villains. With bird-themed armor. As soon as they touched the ground, people started to cry out and scatter all over the place. The villains didn't seem to favor this movement.

"Oi, _everybody_! Stop what you're doing immediately!" the tallest shouted. "And shut your mouths while you're at it!" She was glad in a black-and-green suit. Her voice, while obviously feminine, held as much authority in it as a man's did, and caused the locals to listen. For the most part, it was silent. The woman snorted. "Good. Now that we have your attention…" One of the smaller women, one who had a black-and-orange scheme, stepped forward. She carried a scepter with what appeared to be a chicken's head topping it.

"Oya, Mayor!" she yelled, pointing at the small, shuddering man on the stage with the aforementioned scepter. With such a feeble-sounding voice, one could tell she was old. _Very_ old. "Give us those boots you have there!"

"As for everyone _else_," the third member of the trio added on. She sounded much younger than her companions, and favored the color purple. "Hand over your valuables before we're given a reason to attack!"

Manny cussed beneath his breath. _Great, just what I needed right now. Not one, not two, but three villains to take care of._ He wasn't completely adverse to fighting them, however. He needed to blow off a lot of steam. This would probably lessen his stress level a bit. Quickly taking in his surroundings, and making sure nobody would see him, Manny dashed off to somewhere he could transform without being caught.

* * *

FFffff. I hate to get everyone's hopes up with an update. This is more for me than you guys, sadly enough. I have this overly nagging voice in the back of my head whenever I think of fanfiction, telling me to get my ass in gear.

Damn you, conscious. Damn you along with my dead cotton candy gun.


End file.
